


Emotional Bonds

by CreationOfMell



Category: Left 4 Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2020-06-02 02:55:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreationOfMell/pseuds/CreationOfMell
Summary: A little family tries to survive in the zombie apocalypse. But then only the little kid is left after her parents were killed. How can a five year old survive in such a cruel world? Not without some unexpected help that's for sure.(Cross posted on FF.net)





	1. The loss of loved ones

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This fanfiction is also on fanfiction.net. (With much more chapters.)  
> I'm going to post one chapter every two or three days or so until we reach chapter 18.
> 
> Beware! I wrote this a long time ago, so the english will be a little bit cringe worthy in the first chapters (I'm too lazy to rewrite it all).  
> But it will get better with every chapter!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Left 4 Dead. Only my OCs are my own.

Might as she tried the little girl couldn't sleep. Every time she heard a scream, a growl or some other noise, which wasn't natural, her gray-blue eyes wandered to the red door on the other end of the room.

Those noises were really bad and could get dangerous. Her parents warned her of the danger and the pain that would follow these terrible noises, so that she should stick close to her parents at all times.

With a quiet whimper she looked over to her mommy who slept on the floor while she used her dirty backpack as a pillow and held a gun loosely in one hand. She had beautiful long ginger hair that was now filthy because she couldn't take a shower for a week and she had a pair of green eyes. Her daddy sat on one of the many boxes in this safe room and held a shotgun at the ready while he looked out for any danger. It seemed like her daddy couldn't sleep either. He had a tussled brown mob of hair on his head at which a wide white strand of hair that fell in his face catched everyone's eye instantly. Even though her daddy tried to explain that to her she didn't understand much of it. Something about a pigmentary abnormality or whatever.

“What's wrong, honey?”, rang the worried voice of her daddy out who looked with tired blue eyes over to her and gestured to the five year old girl to come closer.

Slowly the little girl stood up from her resting place and walked over to her daddy who swooped her from the ground and placed her on his lap.

“Can't sleep...”, muttered the five year old as she huddled against her daddy to seek some warmth and safety.

“Just try it. You will fall asleep eventually.”, tried her daddy to calm her down before he put one arm around her and softly stroked her little back.

It took some time and more gentle words from her daddy before the little girl finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning the little girl woke up as someone lightly shook her and a female voice reached her ears.

“Wake up, Chiara. We have to go.”

Groggily Chiara opened her big grey-blue eyes whereupon the face of her mommy greeted her who took her gently in her arms and off her daddy's lap.

“I don't want to...”, complained the little girl with a big yawn while her mommy sat down and put her on her lap.

“I know, sweety.” With a quiet sigh her mommy opened the two hair ties on either side of her head to run her delicate fingers through the ginger hair of the little girl that she had inherited from her mommy. After she used her own fingers as a comb she tied Chiaras's ginger hair back to two pigtails.

After a small breakfast and a check of their weapons her daddy hesitantly opened the red door and the little family left the four walls of the safe room.

The following hours were the same as any other day before. While her parents shot everything in sight Chiara stuck close to them and tried not to look at the many corpses in order to not get sick by the sight.

They were lucky that they hadn't met too many special infected on their journey and that they hadn't encountered a horde at all but once. And that time it was just a small horde.

But it seemed like their luck should run out today as Chiara accidently bumped against a car as she stumbled back in order to get away from a common who got too close to her before her daddy had shot it.

“Shit! A horde is coming!”, exclaimed her mommy with panic in her voice as the loud alarm of the car sounded.

“Hurry, we have to get in a building! We are a too easy target here in the open!”, yelled her daddy as he grabbed Chiara and run together with her mommy in the direction of a run-down looking house.

The little girl whimpered out of terror as she spotted the incoming horde over the shoulder of her daddy whereupon she clenched her fingers hard in the material of her daddy's shirt.

Hurriedly her daddy sprinted up the stairs and disappeared in one of the many rooms with her while her mommy stopped in the hallway and began to shoot everything that got up the stairs.

“Please, honey, stay here. Don't come out, no matter what you hear! I will come and get you.”, instructed her daddy the five year old while he put her in a closet.

“But daddy...!”, started Chiara but was quickly cut short from her daddy.

“No buts! You are staying here! Don't come out! Stay put until I or your mother comes back. Understood?”

“Yes daddy.”, replied Chiara weakly even though she didn't want to leave either side of her parents.

“Good girl. We will be back in no time.”, promised her daddy before he closed the doors of the closet and quickly left the room to assist her mommy on the hallway.

The little girl bit her own lower lip and drew her short legs to her chest so she could put her arms around them while she listened to the noise of gunshots and screaming.

Chiara couldn't tell how much time had passed but at some point the gunshots stopped and a creepy silence was all that was left.

“Mommy?! Daddy?!”, called the little girl with a shaky voice while she tried to look out of the crack between the two doors of the closet.

Were all the bad people dead? Were there all gone? They had to be otherwise the gunshots wouldn't have stopped.

But the continuing silence worried the little girl. Why didn't her parents come back to pick her up? Where were they?

A quiet moan and the following narrowed sight of a common who stumbled through the doors in the room crushed all her hopes. This couldn't be! These bad people should be gone. If they weren't then her parents...

Chiara couldn’t believe that. She didn't want to believe it. Her parents couldn't be dead! Her daddy promised to come back.

A loud sob left her lips as the tears started to run down her cheeks. This couldn't be...

Another moan that was much louder this time startled the little girl who quickly looked up and through the crack. Her eyes widened as she saw how the common stumbled towards her and the closet. That thing must have heard her sob. Upon this realization Chiara promptly clamped her hand over her own mouth and backed up from the doors to press her back against the wooden wall of the closet.

Her whole body started to shake as she tried to be as quiet as possible while she watched in terror and hoped that the zombie would just go away.

As the common arrived at the closet it just stared dumbly at the closed doors for a moment before it raised its two bloody arms and pounded a couple of times uselessly against the wooden surface. After it couldn't hear another sound it quickly lost interest and turned around. Slowly it left the room and roamed the hallways instead.

Relieved a big breath that Chiara had held in all the time escaped her chest as the common was finally gone. Slowly she let her hand sank from her mouth and hugged herself instead.

She wanted her mommy and daddy to be here with her. Again she drew her legs to her chest so she could hide her face between them and let the tears flow followed by quiet sobs.

It wasn't long until the little girl cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Not until a low growl reached Chiaras ears did the little girl wake up. Confused she looked around herself just to spot dimly some clothes and to realize that she was still in the closet.

Her parents were still not here. They couldn't be dead. They just couldn't...

Of the looks of it it had to be night by now and so some hours must have passed. Chiara could barely see anything in the closet because it was so dark. That frightened the little girl who didn't like the dark that much.

With a quiet whimper she grabbed the hood of her blue hoodie and pulled it over her head to feel somewhat safer. Maybe when she couldn't see the bad people then they couldn't see her as well.

A sudden growl that instantly followed her quiet whimpers startled her. She could have sworn that her heart stopped for a couple of beats before it started to beat double so fast.

Swallowing Chiara turned hesitantly slow her head while she hoped that the thing outside wasn't what she thought it was.

Her daddy had often told her that such a growl meant real danger. What had he called the thing that growled like that? He had told her that they could jump really high, that they were good climbers and would pounce on you when given the chance. They also wore hoodies.

Biting her lower lip Chiara looked out of the crack just to come face to face with one of the bad people. It looked through the crack directly at her and bared it teeth.

Chiara froze instantly up out of terror as she finally remembered the designation.

A hunter.


	2. Ghosts of the past

He was startled awake as a loud noise coupled with some screams and rapid footsteps reached his ears.

Instantly he sprung up on all fours and growled a warning before he realized that there was no immediate danger around. Confused the hunter sat down on his haunches while he still somewhat sleepily looked around him.

The first thing that he noticed was that he was still in his little den that he had chosen for the day ahead which by the looks of it wasn't over yet. He couldn't help himself but to scowl at the aspect that it was still daytime.

Daytime meant persistent light which was very bad and hurt his eyes, even so he had just one of these left. So he prefered to hunt at night and to sleep during the day.

With a quiet growl he rose from his position so he could jump from the nearly destroyed coach on which he had slept on and to crawl over to one of the windows in order to see what was happening outside and what had awoken him.

In the streets below he could see many of the commons who nearly ran each other over in order to get to one specific location. Now that the hunter was more awake he noticed the high pitched noise in the distance that often originated from cars and that made the commons – or how he liked to call them, the stupid ones – to act like crazy.

But this sound also meant that some survivors were near. Such a stupid prey. Didn't they know that loud high pitched noises were bad for them and would mean death for them?

The hunter cackled lowly about this before his stomach reminded him painfully that he was really hungry and hadn't had something to eat for days.

He should rather follow the stupid ones to the alarm in order to get something to eat before the stupid ones ate all of the prey for themselves than to just sit here and to starve himself to death.

With a loud shriek he jumped out of the window that no longer had any glass left and landed on a rooftop opposite the street.

He was just glad for his dark red hoodie that protected him from the evil light.

After he pinpointed the exact direction of the origination of the high pitched noise he collected enough energy in his legs and leaped to the next rooftop.

It wasn't long until he arrived at his destination where he stopped on one of the roofs and looked down at the street with the noisy car.

Some of the stupid ones still lingered around the car even though the majority of them stormed in a run-down looking building. The hunter guessed that the prey was in this building. After quickly sniffing the air and straining his ears he could confirm his prior guess. The smell of the warm, living prey and the noise of screams and gunshots came definitely from inside that building.

Grinning the hunter crouched down to prepare for his next leap as another high pitched screech sounded near by and interrupted his intention. He instantly perked up and looked around him hoping to spot the other hunter. Another of his brethren.

But besides the curiosity and the slight uneasy feeling in his gut another emotion welled up in him. A raging anger. How dare this hunter to infiltrate his hunting grounds! No one was allowed in here. Even though his terrain was really small it was still his hunting ground. His alone!

Snarling in anger he raised his nose up in the air and began to sniff wildly. But the scent that he catched in the air prompted him to pause in his snarling and growling.

He knew that scent.

A quiet whine left his lips as he tried to remember from where and when he knew that particular scent.

Another loud screech sounded before a huge hunter landed behind him on the rooftop whereupon he hastily spun around in order to face the intruder.

He unconsciously let a whiny-voiced growl slip as he recognized the much bigger hunter to his own displeasure.

The other one wore a dark green hoodie with a black hood which left sleeve was missing completely while the right sleeve of the hoodie was just half shredded. He also wore gray pants and was barefoot. His face as well as his left arm were adorned with many ugly scars and a pair of empty eye sockets could creep anyone out with their unseen stare. All in all the other one was a picture of a scary looking, muscular giant.

There was no mistake, no denying it. These looks coupled with the familiar scent and the sadistic grin made it clear to him who this other hunter was.

Scarface.

Or at least that was what he used to call the other hunter a long time ago who was still at least twice his size.

Why was he here? He had thought that Scarface and his pack were wide away. At least they had to be in another city entirely. That time he had made sure to cover a lot of ground between them and himself.

Fed up with the continuing staring match Scarface took a step closer to the smaller hunter who quickly tried to hide his uneasiness and growled warningly while he took a defensive stance and bared his bloody teeth.

Scarface could just grin in amusement as he took this display in. Did that sorry excuse of a hunter really think that he could defeat his alpha? That he could stand a chance against a superior? Ridiculous!

Without any warning Scarface pounced on the smaller one but instead of warm flesh, his claws met the hard surface of the roof. The other one was fast. He had to give the little fucker that.

Grinning and licking his lips out of excitement Scarface turned his head to look over the hunter in the red hoodie with black sleeves who had really managed to dodge his attack.

But he wouldn't let this happen again.

With a loud snarl Scarface feinted an attack with his claws to the others face before he let his hand collide painfully with the back of the smaller ones head instead as the smaller one ducked to evade the blow to his face and presented so unwillingly his vulnerable neck and the back of his head.

More out of the shock than really out of the pain from the blow to the back of his head the hunter in the red hoodie tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Before he even could stand up again the bigger hunter was over him and pinned him to the hard surface of the rooftop. While Scarface's hands pressed down on his shoulder blades his legs straddled his own in order to immobilize him that way.

The smaller one growled out of fury and shame before he ended up whining and whimpering as Scarface's claws pierced the flesh of his shoulder blades warningly. He was at the mercy of his former alpha and there seemed nothing he could do about it.

He jumped and a startled yelp left his lips as Scarface bit in the material of his hood and tore it from his head to expose him to the evil light. He immediately squeezed his one eye shut while he whined loudly and started to squirm.

The sudden low growl and the feeling of sharp teeth grazing his throat stopped him in all his movements. Fearfully he held still and just let a quiet submissive whimper pass his lips. He didn't mistook the warning for anything else but what it was. Even the slightest wrong move and the bigger hunter would really bite down and pierce his flesh with his razor sharp teeth to easily tear out some flesh. He didn't want to end like that. He wanted to live a little while longer, thank you very much.

Scarface finally seemed satisfied with his now more submissive reaction to his actions as he purred confidently and slowly retreated first from his throat and then entirely from him.

His first instinct as he felt the weight lifting from his body was to get as much space between them as possible. But before he could do just that one of Scarface's feet kicked him painfully in the ribs so that he slid a few meters over the rooftop before he came to a stop.

The following snarl that left Scarface's lips made the message clear. Leave now, that prey is mine!

Weakly coughing the smaller one slowly sat up before he pulled his hood back over his head and glared hatefully at the other hunter.

With another furious snarl from Scarface he finally fled the scene and leaped from rooftop to rooftop. As he looked briefly back over his shoulder he could watch how Scarface entered the building in which was the prey with a sadistic grin on his face.

He couldn't help himself but to growl out of frustration about this. And there went his meal.

How he hated this hunter! He detested Scarface over all else.

Back in his temporary dent he paced back and forth while still growling to himself. He would go back later. Hopefully there would still be some food left for him. Even if it was just a little bit. It didn't matter anymore now. He needed something to eat no matter how small the portion would be.

Whining he dropped on the coach while all the while wondering why Scarface was here in the first place. Scarface's appearance meant that the pack couldn't be too far away either. Even though he could still remember that the alpha male prefered to hunt all by himself and to leave his pack behind for a while before he returned to it again. So the pack could also be far away.

While he wracked his brains for answers it didn't take him long to doze off in a fitful sleep.

* * *

The next time he woke up it was nighttime.

Without any hesitation he immediately jumped from the couch and out the window to get back to that building. As he arrived there it was unusually quiet. Beside the occasional moans of the stupid ones who stumbled dumbly around there was no other sound.

Cocking his head to the side the hunter jumped from the rooftop and landed directly in front of the entrance of the building in that had been the prey.

Before he entered he sniffed the air and discovered to his relieve that Scarface wasn't around anymore. Even though his scent was still in the air it was so faint that he couldn't be here in person.

After his stomach reminded him again painfully that he needed something to eat he crawled in the building and up the stairs where the smell of blood was the strongest.

In the hallway he could spot some stupid ones who all seemed to gather around a corpse. Snarling the hunter sprinted towards them and violently lashed out. Surprised the stupid ones stumbled back before they realized who had interrupted them and made obediently room for the snarling hunter. Some of them walked off entirely while the others still stood near and regarded the small hunter with uneasiness.

The hunter didn't pay them any more attention and instead looked at the corpse of which wasn't that much left. It seemed like it had been a woman with ginger hair at some point even though he couldn't be too sure about that.

Shrugging he bent down and greedily ate the poorly remains which didn't really fill his stomach to his liking. But at least it was something and it lessened the pain in his stomach a little bit.

Though he couldn't help himself to be disappointed as he finished all of it and looked around him, hoping that there was another corpse around. But to his misfortune there wasn't.

Had there been just one survivor or had the stupid ones or even Scarface ate all of them whole? He was certain that he had smelled more than one prey earlier that day. Or had he been mistaken?

Just to make sure he sniffed in the air again and paused. There was another scent. Hard to detect under all the smell of gore and blood but there was definitely some other scent. A fresh and warm scent.

Someone was still alive in this building!

But why did Scarface let them live and didn't ate them too? Or at least brought them back to his pack?

Well, he supposed the bigger hunter got his fill and didn't care enough to scout the building afterwards.

Shrugging the hunter decided that it didn't matter. That was all the better for him.

Eagerly he followed the scent along the hallway and in one of the rooms. He slightly looked around him before he pinpointed the location where the scent was the strongest.

The closet. The prey was in the closet.

Silently he sneaked up to the closet and sat down on his haunches in front of the closed wooden doors. The only thing that he could hear from inside the closet was deep and slow breathing.

That was weird. Normally the breath of the prey would quicken when it saw him or one of his brethren.

Slightly confused the hunter leaned forward and looked through the crack of the two doors of the closet. He needed a short moment to spot the prey. But what he saw confused him just even more.

Why was the prey so small? And why did it sleep in there?

But before he could dwell too long on that he noticed the blue hoodie and the similarity it brought with it to something or rather someone else.

Suddenly an image of a grinning pup with a blue hoodie flashed before him. _The pup snuggled_ _with a big grin on its face_ _close to him to se_ _e_ _k his warmth while he purred at it._

Growling to himself he wildly shook his head in order to get the images to vanish. He didn't want to see that. He didn't want to remember that now!

Some movement in the closet catched his attention and pulled him out of his slight panicked thoughts. It seemed like he woke the little thing up with his growl.

At first the little girl – and he just noticed now that it was indeed female – stired and slowly sat up whereupon she looked around herself and seemed not to like what she saw. At first the hunter was confused as the little thing pulled her hood over her head but as he took the view in and heard the little whimper another image flashed before his inner eye.

_A pup, a little female what was rare in their species, clutched at her blue hood while she whimpered pathetically and curled up on the ground. He tried to calm her down as he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. He didn't like it when she was scared of something. His little girl should be happy and not scared or sad._

The hunter furiously shook his head as another growl left his lips. He bared his teeth out of slight pain and anger that the images brought with them. He really didn't want to think about this!

But to his luck the little girl in the closet distracted him again from his own thoughts as her big grey-blue eyes met with his one milky green eye and instantly filled up with horror. He could practically smell the terror on her as well as he could hear the quickening of her heartbeat.

Usually these things would bring him joy and a kind of excitement but now he couldn't help himself but to dislike it. He didn't really like it to see that little girl so distressed.

But why?

Carefully he raised his arms and slowly opened the doors of the closet whereupon the girl gasped loudly and hurriedly scooted back until her back hit the wooden wall of the closet.

Even so the survivors liked to believe that all infected were too stupid to open some doors that wasn't the case, obviously. He wasn't that dumb that he didn't know how to open a fricking door!

Silently he studied the little girl a little bit closer now that some more light was provided through the open doors.

The little girl wore a blue hoodie that seemed to be a little bit too big for her. If he wasn't mistaken it also had some kind of white wings on its back, even though that didn't make much sense to him. Along the blue hoodie with the white wings she wore a dark red short skirt and under that a pair of black tights. She also wasn't barefoot but had black boots on.

The hunter noticed rather quickly that the girl regarded him as well. Her big grey-blue eyes roamed fearfully over his body. At first she looked at his bare feet then she wandered up higher and viewed his pair of black pants. After that she regarded his dark red hoodie that had black sleeves before she finally ended up to stare in his face which was mostly cloaked in shadows.

After he took the image of the girl really in he became painfully aware of the fact how similar they looked.

He now knew why. He knew why he didn't feel the urge to eat that little thing.

The little girl reminded him painfully of his own little pup who he had lost. It almost was like his dead beloved pup sat in a human form before him right at this moment. He missed his little girl so much so that he would give almost everything to get her back.

It was so absurd but nevertheless his instincts told him that this girl was a helpless pup – it was _his_ pup.

And he had to protect his pup no matter what.


	3. Cats and Sharks

Chiara was terrified as she pressed herself tightly against the wooden wall of the closet in the hopeless try to vanish through it.

She gulped loudly as she tried to calm her nerves a little bit before she hesitantly looked at the hunter again who still just sat there and stared at her. She had to admit that it was slightly unnerving and made her even more nervous than she already was.

Why was he staring? Why wasn't he attacking her?

Her daddy had always warned her of all the bad people because they were dangerous and would bring immense pain when they attacked what would most likely end in death. And her daddy told her always the truth. He was also always right.

So why wasn't she in any pain and why wasn't she dead?

She barely wondered about all this as the hunter finally moved. He reached with one of his dirty and bloody hands for her whereupon Chiara flinched violently and out of sudden panic and the following adrenalin rush she darted out of the closet and past the hunter who seemed too stunned for a moment to react properly and to grab her.

But unfortunately for her this didn't last long as she heard a quiet growl from the hunter before he spun around and tried to grab her again. Panicked the little girl stumbled back with a loud cry whereupon she lost her balance and fell clumsily on her butt.

Before the hands of the hunter could touch her – and they had just been some millimeters afar from doing so – some loud moans sounded as a few commons stumbled in the room. They must have heard her cry and wanted to hurt her now.

As the hunter looked up and over to the other bad people so that his focus wasn't only on the little girl anymore Chiara made immediately use of the opportunity.

She hurriedly spun around and crawled on all fours away from the bad people before she spotted the bed and quickly hid under that. Clamping her hand over her own mouth to prevent herself from making any noise, that she wanted to do so desperately, she shut her eyes tightly and just wished that all the bad people would be gone.

She flinched violently as she heard the angered snarling and growling from the hunter before some pained noises sounded from the commons. She didn't even dare to open her eyes as she heard how claws met rotting flesh and how blood splattered on the floor – even though the little girl didn't know for sure what was happening and what these awful sounds meant.

Not until it became deathly quiet in the room did she hesitantly open her eyes and rolled slowly on her stomach to have a better look. But all she could see was weird dark red stuff that was nearly black on the floor and a pair of dirty feet and bloody hands.

The hunter was still here!

Upon this realization Chiara couldn't stop the quiet whimper from escaping her lips. The noise barely sounded in the room, as the feet and hands of the hunter moved in the direction of the bed, in front of which he stopped and crouched down in order to look under it.

The hunter uttered a soft sounding noise as his gaze fell on the little girl before he quickly reached out for her.

Chiara's eyes widened while she clumsily started an attempt to crawl out of reach of the hunter's arm. But this time she was too slow.

A choked cry left her lips as the hand of the hunter grabbed one of her ankles and started to pull her to him. The little girl tried desperately to hold on to something but her short nails clawed uselessly for the floor.

This was it. With a loud whimper she squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the pain that would come next.

But instead of pain she suddenly felt two arms around her which pressed her small body against another bigger one. Surprised she opened her eyes again only to see a clothed chest in front of her. She had to blink several times before she finally could process what had happened.

Did that hunter seriously hold her in his arms? Was he trying to hug her?

Confused Chiara looked up and directly in the face of the infected. From her angle she had a perfect view at his face and no shadows were there to hide his facial features. But what the little girl saw reminded her of the fact what this person who held her close really was.

It was one of the bad people. The sight of dried blood around his mouth and especially the one empty eye socket and the only remaining eye that looked also directly at her frightened her. It looked creepy.

Scared she started to squirm but stopped again as a soft and comforting sound reached her ears. She needed some seconds to realize what it was exactly.

The hunter was purring!

As the purring continued the hunter slowly dipped his head and began to nuzzle her head which was still covered with her blue hood.

Chiara was more confused than ever even though she couldn't prevent herself from noticing that the actions of the hunter reminded her of a really big cat. Cats weren't bad, they were cute animals...

Maybe this hunter was just like a cat and just wanted to cuddle and to be pet. Was that the reason why he hadn't hurt her yet?

Taking a deep breath Chiara raised one of her slightly shaking hands and reached out for the hunters head even though she could just reach his cheek.

“Don't bite me...”, muttered the little girl with a shaking voice as she tentatively petted the hunters cheek who instantly stopped his purring and looked with his one eye at her what just brought her an uneasy feeling in her gut.

Didn't he like to be petted? He was the one who started the cuddling and started the whole cat act!

The sudden toothy grin of the hunter startled her and she slightly flinched out of the false assumption that he would bite her regardless.

But the little girl was damn sure that those sharp teeth weren't of a cat of any kind. They reminded her more of a shark that she had seen once on television.

Chiara furrowed her brow as she stared at those bloody teeth and started to think. Even though the hunter purred and moved like a big cat he still had teeth and the appetite for meat like a dangerous shark.

But before she could dwell any further on that she was suddenly put down on the ground so her back faced the hunter who now sat behind her.

She considered to look back over her shoulder to see what the hunter was doing, but before she could do exactly that the hunter bit without any warning in the material of her hoodie by the nape of the neck and lifted her from the ground.

Chiara squealed out of surprise and slight fright as her feet dangled uselessly in the air while the hunter seemed to have decided to carry her around like cats did with their baby kitties.

As the little girl realized that the hunter was moving in the direction of the window in the room she started to flail her arms in a slight panic.

“Wait! I can't go! I still have to wait for my mommy and daddy! They're coming back to get me!”, shouted Chiara helplessly even though she already knew that her parents would probably never come back.

The only answer she got from the hunter was a low growl while he still moved on until he reached the window that was wide open. Without hesitation he grabbed the edge of the window frame before he slightly crouched down to gather some energy in his legs.

“What are you doing? The door is downstairs... You can't go through the window, silly! Even I know that.”, informed Chiara the hunter confused whereupon he just ignored her and her words and suddenly jumped out of the open window like he wanted to confute her prior words.

The little girl couldn't help the scream that escaped her lips as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and drew her legs up nearer to her own body. They were going to die!

But the expected pain or death didn't come, instead a low purring noise sounded and she could feel how she swung oh so slightly from the right to the left and back as the hunter shook slowly his head in order to bring her to open her eyes – what she did very hesitantly.

Their new location shocked her. She could only stare in disbelieve at the surroundings of the rooftop on that they currently were – even though she couldn't see too much of it since the hunter's teeth were still biting down on the material of her hoodie in the area of her neck, so that she wasn't able to turn her head properly.

What exactly did just happen? How did they end up here? And why did they survive a jump out of the window?

Confused the little girl furrowed her brow before she remembered the words of her daddy. Hunters could jump really high... So that would mean that they could also withstand a very high drop that would follow the high jump. That had to be it.

“And what now?”, asked Chiara out loud even though she didn't expect any real reply from the hunter who looked around before he started to move again.

This time as the hunter leaped from rooftop to rooftop the little girl was just a little bit scared, now that she knew that such a jump wouldn't end in their death. Instead she quickly took a shine to traveling like that. She couldn't really believe it herself but it was fun to jump like that from rooftop to rooftop. It was just like flying, so that she couldn't help herself but to spread her arms to her sides like a plane and to squeal out of delight. She wasn't too sure but she thought that she heard the hunter cackling about her behavior, what she just shrugged off and rather enjoyed their short journey.

It wasn't too long until they stopped again on a rooftop where the hunter looked briefly around and sniffed the air before he crawled to the edge of the building and climbed on a windowsill on the top floor to jump through the shattered window and in the room.

After he sniffed in the air again he carefully lowered his head until Chiaras feet touched the ground and released the material of her hoodie from his teeth and just stared at the little girl.

Chiara looked around her surroundings and was surprised that the little apartment looked so untouched from all the mess that was going on. She couldn't detect any blood on the walls or the floor and all the furniture seemed to be still intact. The most places she had seen before were tainted in red and you had to look out where you stepped because of all the broken furniture, the broken glass or body parts – even though her parents had made sure that she didn't see too much of the latter when it could be helped.

“Is this your home?”, asked the little girl the hunter as she turned around to him who just cocked his head and seemed somewhat confused before he lifted his hand and pointed at first at her and then to their surroundings with a quiet inquiring sounding noise.

Now it was Chiaras turn to be confused. Did the hunter even understand her? It didn't seem like it.

She bit her bottom lip as she looked around again, hoping to see what the hunter had pointed out but she couldn't detect anything special. They stood in the living room with an open kitchen, there were also two doors – even though one of them was just a door frame while the other one was closed with an actual door out of wood – which were leading out of the large room. She guessed that behind the closed door was the bathroom and through the doorframe you would end up in a bedroom. Just as she was in the process to look back at the hunter something else catched her attention.

There was a fridge standing in the small kitchen. A fridge meant food. She just now realized how hungry she was.

Hurriedly she ran up to the fridge and reached for the handle, but no matter how much she stretched she couldn't reach it. She was just too small. Frustrated she huffed and started to pout as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

She looked up again as the hunter crawled over to her and sat down on his haunches beside her.

“Can you open it, please?” To clarify her request Chiara pointed at the handle of the fridge and made some motions with her hands like she wanted to open a door.

The little girl sighed out of relieve as the hunter seemed to understand and reached for the handle which he grabbed somewhat awkwardly and pulled the door of the fridge open.

Chiara instantly looked at the contents of the fridge which wasn't much. Most of the stuff seemed to be moldy. At least they looked like something that she wanted to eat once but her mummy had taken it from her with the explanation that the food was moldy and that she would get stomach pain from it plus getting sick.

Sighing the little girl closed the fridge again and turned around to investigate the rest of the little apartment. While she walked over to the closed door she reached up and pulled her hood from her head so that her ginger hair and the pigtails appeared. She shook her head slightly and her pigtails bounced on either side of her head with the motion before her hood was suddenly grabbed and pulled over her head again.

“What...?” Confused the little girl looked up and at the hunter who had done it. Frowning slightly Chiara reached up and pulled her hood from her head again. As she saw how the hunter wanted to grab her hood again she quickly batted the offending hand away and shook her head wildly.

“Cut it out!”, demanded the little girl firmly and frowned at the hunter who finally sighed in defeat and lowered his hand.

Satisfied with her small victory Chiara smiled happily before she turned around again and walked up to the closed door. She looked back at her companion and pointed meaningfully at the door knob whereupon the hunter crawled over to her, reached for the door knob and opened the door for the little girl.

Like Chiara had suspected it was a small bathroom with a toilet, a basin and a bathtub that you could also use as a shower.

Nodding to herself she went to the doorframe that lacked an actual door and looked in the room which was indeed a bedroom with a king-sized bed right in the middle of it. As she regarded the bed she couldn't help the yawn from escaping her while she rubbed her eyes with one hand.

The recently happenings must have tired her out more than she had thought. And the sleep she got in the closet hadn't been that recreative.

She looked up at the hunter as he nudged her with his nose. She yawned again and petted her companion without thinking on the head. The hunter held still for a moment before he crawled quickly to the coach in the living room to grab some pillows that laid on the coach. With the pillows he came back to the bedroom where he jumped on the bed and arranged the blanket and the fluffy pillows to his liking.

Chiara cocked her head slightly in confusion as she watched the hunter, but shrugged shortly after and stepped up to the big window in the bedroom that led to a balcony. She was too tired to figure out to what the hunter was up to.

The little girl looked out the window and over the rooftops. This building was really high. Most of the other surrounding buildings were at least a little bit less high.

A rough cough from outside, followed instantly by a growl from the hunter behind her on the bed pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked briefly back over her shoulder to her companion who seemed a little agitated before she looked back out the window and pressed her face against the cool glass of the window in order to see better through the night. But she couldn't really spot anything that looked suspicious.

Nevertheless the hunter didn't stop his growling. Just as Chiara wanted to ask what was the matter she was grabbed by the hunter and carried to the bed.

The way the pillows and the blanket were arranged reminded the little girl of some kind of a nest from a bird.

The hunter laid her down in the nest before he joined her in the nest and laid down beside her. He instantly pulled her nearer to his chest to share some of his body heat while he curled up on the bed and created so a protective wall out of his own flesh for the little girl.

Chiara was at first a little bit uncomfortable to be that close to the hunter but she quickly shoved that feeling to the side and snuggled close to the warmth and safety that the hunter provided. If she shut her eyes and ignored the bad smell of the hunter it was almost like her daddy laid here with her and cradled her in his arms to help her to sleep.

But her daddy was dead. He would never hold her in his arms again. A quiet sob left Chiara's lips as the tears started to flow down her cheeks. She missed her daddy and mummy. She wanted them back!

The hunter whimpered quietly as he nudged her with his nose again before he started to purr at her and to nuzzle her in the vain attempt to comfort her.

Chiara sobbed just louder as she clenched her small fingers in the material of her companion's hoodie. She faltered slightly as one of her hands felt something hard rather than soft. In an attempt to distract herself from her sorrow she groped the object through the material of the hoodie until she realized that it had to be a pendant of a necklace. Slowly she reached up and slipped her hand under the hoodie of the hunter who jumped out of surprise before he growled warningly. Chiara ignored the warning as she got a grip on the necklace and pulled it out from under the hoodie.

She blinked her blurry eyes a couple of times in order to see something through the tears which slowly ran dry.

The pendant was a shark out of silver. It was a simple design but it still looked pretty.

As the little girl stared at the silver pendant of the necklace she remembered the sharp teeth of the hunter which had reminded her of the teeth of a shark.

Shark. That wouldn't be such a bad name to call the hunter. She had to call the hunter something after all. She couldn't just address him as 'mister Hunter' or with a simple 'you'. The more often she repeated the name in her head, the more she liked it. Shark it was then.

With a small smile she released the pendant from her grip so that it dangled from the hunters neck again before she tried to wipe the remaining tears away.

“Thanks. Good night, Shark.”, mumbled Chiara weakly and nestled up against Shark who stared at her still somewhat worried and with a questioning look. Even though she was dead tired she couldn't sleep immediately. Too much was going through her head and the bad smell of the hunter didn't help either.

Not til Shark started to purr again did the little girl drift off with a small smile on her lips and the fleeting thought that the hunter needed a bath.


	4. Foraging (part 1)

The hunter looked once again out of the big window from the corner of his eye as he listened to the sounds of the night. He could barely hear the rough coughing anymore that was some hours ago too loud and too near to their location to his liking. But now it seemed like the smoker – how the prey called this brethren of his – had walked off and was wide away from their current location.

A hardly noticable movement in his arms catched his attention and he quickly looked back at his little pup who was still sleeping peacefully in his arms and was snuggled up to him. He couldn't help himself but to smile at this before he frowned slightly.

By the looks of it his new pup slept during the night and was awake at daytime. That was a problem since he prefered it the other way around. He could hunt better during the night when no evil light threatened to hurt his eye.

But looking at the little girl he sighed deeply in defeat and decided to his own displeasure that he would have to change his sleeping mannerisms. He could hardly go hunting in the night and leaving his sleeping pup alone in the nest. He couldn't do that.

But on the bright side there would be one good thing about this. His brethren showed also more up during the night so that the possibility of meeting a lot of his brethren during daytime was unlikely. That would mean less danger for his pup when he would take her outside with him.

Looking out the window again he noticed that it was already somewhat brighter outside. It wouldn't be too long until the sun would rise and the evil light would come back. He cringed at the mere thought of light that would hurt his remaining eye.

But what wouldn't he all do for his pup?

He looked back at the little girl as she began to stir. She was waking up.

Slowly she opened her eyes before she blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes with one hand as a big yawn left her lips. At first she seemed to be confused about something before she gasped loudly and scooted hurriedly back from him.

Confused about the behavior of his pup the hunter whined quietly while he slowly reached for the little girl. Why was she afraid of him? He had thought that he had made it clear that he wouldn't mean any harm to her.

But the little girl whimpered out of terror as she scooted further back, away from his grip, while she helplessly shook her head.

The hunter stopped in all his movements so that his hand remained as an offer to take it outstretched in the air before he started to purr lowly. He really hoped that this would work. At least his purring had calmed her down before.

His pup froze but then she seemed to realize something as she relaxed visibly and smiled weakly whereupon she still somewhat hesitantly reached out to him and put her little hand in his much bigger one.

With a toothy grin of his own he carefully pulled the little girl to him and pressed her lightly against his chest while he still purred all the way.

“Good morning, Shark.”, mumbled his pup and even though he couldn't understand the meaning of the words he replied with a soft sounding noise.

He looked down at his pup as she lifted her hand and grabbed the pendant that still dangled from his neck so she could trace the edges of the pendant with her thumb. The hunter cocked his head and hummed lowly while he at first watched the little girl closely and then regarded the pendant in her little hand. He hadn't even known that he possessed that small thing – let alone that he had worn it under his hoodie before his pup pulled it out from under his hoodie last night. But the longer he regarded the silver thing, the more familiar it looked to him.

As his little girl noticed his intent stare she looked at him, back at the pendent and then again to him before she opened her mouth to say something.

“That's a pendant or actually it's a shark. It kinda fits you, Shark. Oh, right... that's your name now by the way. Shark.”

The hunter really tried to understand the words but he failed miserably at it so that he was just left confused. Fortunately his pup was a smart little girl and sensed his confusion immediately whereupon she bit her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. She was probably trying to figure out how she could communicate with him so that he would understand what she wanted to say.

After some seconds it seemed like she found a solution as she slowly lifted her right hand and pressed the appendage to her own chest.

“Chiara.” She said very slowly before she lifted her hand again and pressed it against his chest this time.

“Shark.” He was still somewhat confused as he cocked his head whereupon his pup sighed loudly, shook her head and repeated the motions and the words a couple of times more.

The hunter wracked his brains for an answer to give the motions and the words any sense as he finally thought he got it. It was like someone turned a switch in his head and suddenly it was all clear to him.

So his pup's name was Chiara and she seemed to have decided to call him Shark. Shark wasn't such a bad name, in fact he kinda liked the sound of the name.

“Chrrrraaa... Shaaarrrr....” Shark tried to say the names but all what left his lips were some slurred growling noises. But he didn't care, instead he lowered his head and nuzzled his pup lovingly while he purred happily.

It looked like his little girl understood his slurred attempts regardless as she smiled proudly and petted him on the head. He still didn't understand why Chiara petted him all the time, but he wouldn't do anything against it. She seemed to like doing it and he had to admit that it felt kinda nice to be petted.

The lovely moment was interrupted as suddenly a growl sounded in the room that didn't come from the hunter. Shark quickly realized that the noise came from his pup or to be more specific from her stomach. She was hungry – just like Shark who felt like he was starving and had felt that way for days.

So it was time for hunting.

Shark quickly jumped with Chiara in his arms from the bed before he slung only one arm around the little girl and propped himself up with his other arm, so he could still crawl out of the bedroom and in the living room with the open kitchen – even though it looked somewhat awkward. In the living room he stopped again and put his pup down whereupon he grabbed her hood and pulled the blue material over her head.

“Hey!”, protested his little girl loudly as she pulled her hood from her head again and shook her head stubbornly.

Growling Shark grabbed the hood a second time and pulled it back over her head. But this time he didn't let go of the hood and didn't budge as his pup tried to rip the hood out of his grip and from her head.

“Cut it out, Shark!”, demanded Chiara with a big pout but Shark stayed unwavering. He wouldn't let her have her will this time. He just backed off last night because there had been no evil light. But now it was daytime and so she had to wear the hood. Besides she wouldn't stand out that much with the hood on. With the hood on she nearly looked like his dead beloved pup – like a real hunter pup – even to him.

Shark waited some long seconds – during this time Chiara didn't stop to struggle and stubbornly tried to free her hood out of his grip – before he had enough of this. With a loud warning growl he tugged roughly at the hood and bared his bloody teeth whereupon the little girl flinched out of surprise and slight fright. She trembled lightly as she looked from under her hood up at the hunter who slowly let go of her hood and stared with his one eye warningly at her.

It seemed like his pup finally got the message as she stood still and didn't try to pull the hood off her head again. Slowly Shark dipped his head and nuzzled the head of his pup while he purred lowly – a small apology for his fierce behavior not some seconds ago. To his relief his little pup forgave him as she petted him once again on the head with a weak smile on her lips.

Satisfied Shark pulled away so he could turn the little girl around and could bite down on the material of the hoodie of the neck area. He lifted his pup from the ground with ease before he crawled over to the window in the living room. Without hesitation he jumped on the windowsill and quickly climbed up on the rooftop where he looked around and sniffed the air. The only thing he could smell was the scent of death and gore that lingered always and everywhere in the air.

He wouldn't find any prey anywhere near their location so that he crouched down and leaped to another rooftop. He couldn't help the amused cackling that escaped him as his pup spread her arms and squealed gleefully, just like she did last night. He was happy that Chiara was happy and that was all that mattered to him.

While he jumped from rooftop to rooftop he didn't stop to sniff the air and to look briefly around. He doubted that they would find any survivors and the stupid ones just tasted awful. He had eaten one of them before out of sheer desperation but had regretted it right afterwards. Even though it was a last resort he tried to avoid it for as long as possible.

A faint scent of something living catched his attention and he instantly changed the direction until he stopped on a rooftop of a house – a small one compared to the other buildings around. A large forest extended just in front of them that didn't seem to have an end to it.

The scent of the living thing came definitely from out of the forest and yet Shark hesitated to follow that scent. That forest wasn't part of his hunting grounds anymore and another scent that lingered in the air made him more than just uncomfortable. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his gut off as he placed the scent to a face.

Scarface. It was really faint but he could still smell it around here. That was Scarface's scent without any doubt. This left just the question if they would met the bigger hunter when they entered and roamed the forest?

“What's wrong?”, the questioning voice of his pup pulled Shark out of his musings and reminded him of his actually task at hand. He mustn't be scared. He had to feed his pup no matter what.

With an uneasy growl he finally jumped from the roof and landed safely on the ground whereupon he approached the first trees with caution. He had to be very heedful in case that something or rather someone dangerous waited for them in the forest. He wouldn't let any harm come to his little pup.

“Shark? What do you want in a forest?” The tender voice of his little girl startled him so that he froze in all his movements and squinted down at her – even though he could just see the back of her head. Besides his new name he hadn't understood a word. But it was bad to talk right now, they had to be as quiet as possible.

Shark snarled softly and scowled before he raised one of his hands and pressed his index finger against Chiara's lips to signal her to be quiet. Fortunately his little girl seemed to understand as she nodded slightly and pressed her lips together – even though she tried to look back at him to probably give him a questioning look.

Nodding to himself the hunter paid his pup no more attention and instead concentrated on the hunt and their surroundings. Sniffing the air again he jumped up on a thick branch of a tree before he leaped from branch to branch and followed the scent of the living thing.

To his displeasure he noticed rather quickly that not just the scent of the living thing was getting stronger but Scarface's as well. This wasn't good. He just hoped that the bigger hunter only went through this forest recently and wasn't here in person anymore.

Shark jumped to the ground as he heard a small noise and could pinpoint the location of the prey through its scent. It was really close. Silently he bent down and released the material of the blue hood from his teeth as Chiara's feet touched the ground.

The little girl immediately spun around to him and looked up to him. He could practically see the big question mark over her head as she gave him a confused look. As he saw how his pup opened her mouth to say something he quickly pressed his hand over her mouth and shook his head with a scowl plastered on his face.

All that left Chiara's mouth was some angry unknowable mumbling before a muffled sigh left her lips and she nodded while she crossed her arms over her chest.

Satisfied Shark pulled his hand away from her mouth before he gently grabbed Chiara's shoulders and pushed her to some near bushes where he forced her to sit down. She just had to keep a low profile, then hopefully no one would find her until he came back with the prey.

With a low growl he turned around and took some steps before he heard some rustling behind him. Sighing out of frustration he turned to his pup again who was no more sitting on the ground but was standing in front of the bushes. With a fierce short growl he grabbed her shoulders once again and pushed her forcibly back on the ground between the many branches of the bushes whereupon the little girl whimpered quietly and bit her bottom lip hard which had started to tremble slightly.

Shark hurriedly bent down and started to purr lowly while he licked the little girl's cheek lovingly – a promise that he would come back. He didn't want his little girl to cry. Sniffing Chiara looked still somewhat confused up to him but didn't try to stand up again.

The hunter gave his pup a last toothy grin before he finally turned around and jumped in the direction of the living's scent.

It wasn't hard to track his prey by following its scent. It wasn't long until he spotted his prey on a small clearing whereupon he crouched down til his stomach touched the ground below him so that he couldn't be detected immediately.

If he remembered correctly then this hairy creature was called a deer, even though it was a small one of its kind. Nearly without any sound he sneaked up to his prey until he was near enough. With a loud shriek he pounced on the animal that went down with a little struggle to none. It hadn't had a chance against a hunter in the first place.

To finish the hunt Shark pierced the flesh of its throat with his sharp teeth before he tore a good portion out of it and started to chew hungrily on it whereupon a delightful moan left his lips. Even though it wasn't some flesh of survivors the flesh of the deer tasted like heaven to his starving stomach. Sure, nothing could top the taste of living survivors but fresh flesh of some animals didn't taste that bad either.

Greedily he tore out more of the bloody flesh and swallowed it hungrily before his feeding session was suddenly violently interrupted.

A choked cry left his lips as he was yanked off from over the dead deer by a heavy force. He landed painfully on his side on the ground some meters away. With a groan he tried to roll over on his stomach but he soon realized that something prevented him from doing so by forcibly holding him down.

A loud angry snarl left his lips as he looked up at the culprit but he fell quickly silent as he got a good look at the other one.

His fears became true. Scarface really had been in this forest all along. This wasn't good, it was a nightmare!

He glared hatefully while Scarface just gave him a sadistic grin before he bent down and lapped the still fresh blood from Shark's lips and chin whereupon a very low purr sounded from the bigger hunter.

Outraged about such an intimate action he snapped at the bigger one with his bloody teeth but all he got to bite down on was empty air. His angry snarl was quickly drowned out by Scarface's furious growl who slashed at him and left four bleeding scratches on his right cheek. It seemed like the other hunter didn't like and didn't want any resistance from his side.

A quiet whimper left Shark's lips as he felt the sting of the wound but he quickly forced himself to bear the pain – it wasn't even a bad injury, it would heal pretty fast, so there was no reason for whining about it. Instead he began to struggle wildly while he bit and scratched everything that he could reach – even though that wasn't much considering his position that didn't provide much freedom of movement.

A row of sharp teeth that suddenly pierced lightly his throat stopped him in all his movements. He could feel how his own blood trickled down his throat as a panicked whimper escaped him and his whole body tensed up.

Why went Scarface always for the throat first? He hated it to be at the mercy of his former alpha. But he also knew that this situation would end in his death when he wouldn't show some submissive behavior soon. Oh, how the bigger hunter loved it to dominate others and to have the control.

Shark had to force himself to go limp in Scarface's grip and to let a loud submissive whimper pass his lips. Some long tense seconds went by before the bigger hunter finally released Shark's throat but faltered as he was about to pull back.

Shark was confused as Scarface suddenly began to smell him. The bigger one pressed his nose into the smaller one's curve of the neck before he sniffed his clothed chest while Shark squirmed slightly out of discomfort. What was Scarface doing or rather why was he doing that?

Some seconds passed until the realization hit Shark like a brick wall. The other hunter could smell Chiara on him! Shit, that wasn't good at all.

Before Scarface had the chance to make any sense of the scent Shark lashed out violently. To his luck he catched the other hunter by surprise so that he established it to buck the other one off of him. Hurriedly he rolled on his stomach and jumped up on all fours to face the bigger one.

He wouldn't let Scarface hurt his pup. Not again, never again! He wouldn't loose another pup through Scarface's hands.

Shark snarled out of fury as he pounced on the other hunter and started to claw at him. But before he could have gotten a good swipe at the other one Scarface threw him off of him with a furious snarl of his own.

Growling Shark looked briefly around – searching for a good escape route. Even though he wanted to rip the bigger hunter apart he knew that he didn't possess the necessary strength to do it. Scarface was way stronger than he was but fortunately he was much faster than Scarface. That meant that he could outrun him.

The smaller hunter saw the attack coming as Scarface tensed up. He quickly dodged the pounce with a roll to the side before he jumped on a thick branch of a nearby tree and screeched tauntingly at the bigger hunter.

Scarface shook with rage as he also jumped up on one of the branches to follow him – just like Shark had predicted. Scarface barely landed on the same branch as Shark as the smaller one swiftly leaped to the next branch and then to another one whereupon Scarface instantly started the chase with an outraged shriek.

Shark looked briefly back over his shoulder as he leaped from tree to tree to make sure that Scarface was indeed following him. And that was just what he was doing. Good. With that knowledge he looked back at the way ahead of him. He had made sure to run off in the opposite direction from Chiara's location. Now he just had to loose Scarface somehow.


	5. Foraging (part 2)

He took full advantage of his speed and agility during the whole chase – but even though it seemed like he couldn't shake Scarface off his trail.

He was already running for some minutes, during that time he had covered a lot of ground between himself and the bigger hunter. Though Scarface was still chasing him.

With another brief look over his shoulder he could confirm that fact. The fuming giant of a hunter was struggling to keep up with him but he never disappeared from his sight nonetheless. What a stubborn nuisance the bigger hunter was.

Shark snorted irritably as he looked back ahead and tried to think of a good plan to leave Scarface behind. He didn't think that it would take so long to loose the other hunter. He just hoped that Chiara was still there where he left her and that no one had found her yet.

Sudden crying that sounded nearby pulled him out of his thoughts and immediately catched his attention. It seemed like a witch was nearby. He better avoided her – even though he could use her to his advantage. With any luck he could loose Scarface through the crying woman or he would be killed by her. Should he risk it or better not?

Swallowing hard he made a turn and moved towards the sound of sobbing and crying. He just hoped that all would go according to plan.

It didn't take him long to reach his destination where he stopped on one of the many branches and looked down at the sobbing creature who sat on a stump. She hadn't noticed him yet.

Taking a deep nervous breath Shark looked back over his shoulder before a heavy force collided with him and yanked him off the tree. Together with Scarface who held his shoulders in a death grip he flew through the air until the soft body of the witch stopped their fall. The two hunters collided ruggedly with the witch whereupon all three of them rolled over the dirty ground through the fierce collision – even though Shark could have sworn that he bounced against something hard at some point during the whole rough landing process. He guessed that it probably was the stump or some rocks or whatever.

Groaning out of pain Shark looked up to see where he and the other two ended up. The first time in his life he was relieved to see Scarface's face over him. That meant that he didn't land near or even on top of the crying woman. Instead he was lying on his side with Scarface on top of him. That just left the question where the witch was?

The smaller hunter quickly looked around them until he spotted the witch a few meters away who didn't look happy in the slightest. Shark couldn't help himself but to shudder and to gulp loudly by the sight of the furious witch.

After Scarface witnessed his reaction he followed the smaller hunter's line of sight whereupon he spotted the witch the first time for himself. Judging by the bigger hunter's reaction – who immediately tensed up and let an uneasy growl slip – he hadn't known that she was here. He probably had been so blinded by his fury that he had overheard the crying and instead had focused his attention only on the smaller hunter.

Before the two hunters could have acted accordingly to the present danger the witch dived for them with a loud outraged scream – and she was faster than anything that Shark had ever seen.

The furious woman lashed out with her long bloody claws whereupon Scarface shrieked out of pain. The witch clawed furiously at the bigger hunter's back which she shredded a good deal together with the hoodie. Fortunately Shark didn't suffer any damage even though Scarface wasn't that lucky who was acting unwillingly as the smaller one's protective shield by kneeling over Shark so that he suffered the full blow of the witch's attack.

But this didn't last for long as Scarface finally pulled himself together and spun around to the witch with a furious snarl of his own. Growling he lashed out himself whereupon he succeeded in slashing the witch's stomach open – even though that didn't stop the furious woman in her tracks.

Shark who wasn't pinned to the ground anymore made immediately use of the opportunity and hurriedly rolled on all his fours before he jumped on a thick branch. He nearly lost his grip and nearly fell right off the branch again as pain flooded his body. His whole body felt sore – even though his ribs felt the worse. It seemed like the hard landing from before had left some damage.

With a miserably groan he found his balance on the branch again while he looked back at the fighting pair. To his dismay he couldn't help but notice that Scarface's back didn't look that bad. Sure, the bigger hunter was bleeding and his hoodie had some tears on his back but it should have been a lot more worse for Shark's liking.

And if this wasn't already enough, to make matters worse it seemed like Scarface slowly but surely gained the upper hand of the fight. But even though, Shark wouldn't stay to find out for sure.

Snarling a last time in disdain he turned away from the sight and leaped to the next branch while he stubbornly tried to ignore the pain in his ribs. He mustn't let the pain hinder him from going back to his pup.

Halfway back he remembered the corpse of the animal whereupon he changed his direction slightly and followed the faint scent of blood. Even though he wanted to get back to his pup as fast as possible he couldn't come back empty-handed. He had to feed his little girl and the still fresh meat of the deer was perfect for that.

With that in mind he quickened his pace while he grit his teeth out of pain. Every movement hurt like hell – especially in the area of his ribs. But he couldn't let this bother him now. He had a duty to fulfill no matter what.

Panting hard he arrived at his destination in record time. He landed somewhat ungracefully on the ground right next to the dead deer that was luckily still lying there where he left it.

He promptly bent down and bit into a portion of the flesh which wasn't ripped apart yet so he could haul it off the ground and to his pup. As he tasted the blood of the animal he had to force himself to withstand it and to stay strong – even though his stomach protested painfully. He wasn't starving anymore, thanks to his little feeding session earlier, but he was still hungry and his body demanded more food.

He growled quietly to himself as he reminded himself that he had to feed his pup first.

It didn't take him too long to arrive at the location where he had left his little pup. He released the flesh of the dead animal from his teeth as he looked around and sniffed the air. He couldn't see the little girl anywhere even though he could smell her. She had to be here.

“Chrrraaaa?!” He barely called her name in his slurred attempt as Chiara suddenly burst out from under a nearby knocked-down tree that had covered a little hole in the ground and practically threw herself at Shark. She desperately clung to the hunter who instantly slung one arm around her and nuzzled her in the vain attempt to calm her down.

“I was scared! You took so long!”, whined the little girl while she hurriedly tried to wipe the proof of tears away and slowly stepped back from Shark as the hunter released her from the hug.

Shark whined lowly as he realized that his little girl had been crying. But before he could have blamed himself for it his pup interrupted all his thoughts as she gasped loudly and reached up.

“What happened?! You're hurt!” The little girl touched carefully his cheek while her face was adorned with a worried expression.

At first Shark was confused about it until he remembered the four scratches on his cheek which he had gotten from Scarface. He nearly forgot about this. The pain in his ribs was so bad that he hadn't even felt the slight pain of the scratches on his cheek anymore.

He hurriedly shook his head before he reached for his pup and swooped the little girl from the ground so he could cradle her in his arms. He grinned reassuringly down at her while he purred lowly in the attempt to tell her that everything was alright.

His pup still didn't look fully convinced but she nodded nonetheless before she snuggled up to him and closed her eyes with a deep sigh.

The lovely moment lasted for some seconds before a quiet growl from Chiara's stomach interrupted the silence. He still had to feed his pup. Slowly Shark put the little girl on the ground again before he stepped aside to give his pup a full view of the dead deer.

But the reaction of his pup worried him. His little girl just stared in horror at the tattered flesh of the dead animal before tears started to flow down her cheeks.

“What... Why... Why did you kill it? It looks.... Killing is bad! What shall I do with it?!”, stammered Chiara while a choked sob escaped her.

Shark quickly pulled the little girl back into his arms to calm her somewhat down while he tried to understand what was the problem. Was something wrong with the food? But it looked fine to him. Just to make really sure he sniffed at the meat and it even smelled fine. There was nothing wrong with it.

Maybe his little girl just misunderstood him. Determined to get his point across he gently grabbed Chiara's chin and turned her head in the direction of the dead deer. With his other hand he pointed at the meat before he turned Chiara's head to him and pointed at himself this time while he made some exaggerated chewing motions.

His pup's watery eyes just grew bigger as she ripped her chin out of his grip and looked with an expression of pure disbelieve between him and the dead animal back and forth before her eyes finally stayed on him.

“Am I supposed to eat that?” Her voice was shaking as she spoke to him even though he still didn't understand a word. He was just about to repeat his actions to make her understand as his pup pointed at the dead deer herself and shook her head wildly.

“I can't! I don't eat that!”, exclaimed the little girl while another choked sob escaped her.

No? Why not? Why wouldn't she eat it? The flesh of an animal was better than nothing. He couldn't just find a survivor on the spot.

That was when it finally began to dawn on him. His little pup was a survivor herself. Of course! The prey didn't eat the same things like the infected did.

He growled out of frustration before he cut himself off and bit his bottom lip hard. It seemed like he would have to find something else for his pup – some food that survivors ate. He didn't want to see her so upset anymore.

Besides time was running out. Shark didn't want to risk to meet Scarface again this day. And the risk was higher the longer they would stay in this forest.

No sooner said than done he bent down and bit down on the material of Chiara's hood in the neck area while he purred lowly to calm her down a little bit. He was just about to jump on a nearby branch as he remembered his aching ribs. It wouldn't be such a good idea to use the trees to move on. He didn't want to risk to fall from a tree together with his pup.

So he had to stick to the ground. The way out of the forest and back to his little territory in the city took some time but they arrived at their destination without any incidents nonetheless.

Now he just had to find some food for his pup even though he had no idea where exactly he should look for it. With a frustrated sigh he started to move again. He crawled along one of the many streets in a slow pace while he looked around him and sniffed the air every now and then.

“Let me down! If we don't jump then you can let me down.” Shark just glanced at his pup for a short moment before he paid her no more attention and instead focused on the strange hunt with a low mewl.

For some seconds it was silent until his little girl spoke up again.

“Shark! Put me down!” The slightly angry voice and his name which was nearly shouted at him finally catched his entire attention. With an irritated growl he squinted down at Chiara who was pointing wildly to the ground and repeated her prior words like a mantra.

Shark furrowed his brow as he tried to put the words and the gesture together and to give it some meaning. He couldn't see anything special on the ground so that couldn't be it. But the words sounded somewhat familiar. Down... She was pointing down... She wanted down? Was that it? She didn't want to be carried anymore?!

Still somewhat unsure he bent down and released the little girl's hoodie as her feet touched the ground. His pup instantly spun around to him and smiled at him in approval before she petted his uninjured cheek once again. So he was right after all. The hunter couldn't help but to be proud of himself even though he still wondered why Chiara didn't want to be carried anymore.

He watched the little girl as she turned away from him and looked around before she started walking. He quickly followed his pup so that he crawled alongside the little girl.

“I can't see any red doors. Mummy and Daddy always looked for them. There was food and other stuff in there... At least most of the time.” Shark paid the words of his pup not that much attention – he didn't understand anything of it anyway – even though he couldn't help himself but to notice the slightly sad tone in her voice.

He was just about to nuzzle her as he heard footsteps and moaning so that he perked up immediately. Not some seconds later he could see how some stupid ones stumbled from an alley on the street they were on.

As Chiara spotted them as well she promptly scooted closer to him and clung to one of his arms while she stared warily at them.

Some of them looked over to the pair before they stumbled in their direction. Shark didn't hesitate to show an aggressive posture and to growl warningly while he bared his bloody teeth. A few of the stupid ones stopped in their tracks as they recognized the warning but the small rest continued on.

Shark snarled loudly as he slashed at one of the stupid ones who had come too close for his liking. The infected slumped down to the dirty ground whereupon it stared up at the pair with its bloody eyes. The small hunter scowled right back before he put his free hand on its head and applied some pressure whereupon its fragile head gave away and blackish blood and some other disgusting stuff splattered on the ground.

With a last look at the mess Shark turned to the rest of the stupid ones and snarled furiously. The stupid ones – all of them – finally got the warning and understood the danger that the hunter posed so that they slowly turned away with wary eyes. Some of them walked away entirely while the other ones stayed where they were but didn't show any interest in the pair anymore.

Satisfied Shark relaxed a little bit before he looked at his pup who was still clinging to him and had her eyes tightly shut. He purred at her as he bent down and nudged her with his nose in an attempt to tell her that everything was alright now.

She hesitantly opened her eyes again and looked up to him whereupon she smiled weakly. The little girl glanced slightly at the mess of the stupid one on the ground but quickly looked away again before she hurriedly spun around and rushed further along the street.

Shark swiftly crawled after her until he crawled alongside her once again. Every now and then he looked worriedly at his little girl who had her head downcast until he couldn't take it anymore. He swiftly bent down and nuzzled his pup's head with a low whine.

“It's okay. Thanks, Shark.”, mumbled Chiara quietly while she petted Shark's cheek halfheartedly. They stayed in this position for some seconds before the little girl stepped back from the hunter and resumed walking.

Together they moved down the street in silence until they turned around a corner and Chiara suddenly stopped while she blinked a couple of times.

“That's... That's a supermarket over there! That means there is food!”, exclaimed the little girl with an excited voice before she started running.

Shark immediately followed his little girl while he looked at the building in question. He didn't really understand what was so special about that building. But when it could help lift the mood of his pup then he would just go along with it.

As they arrived at the building they stepped through the already destroyed door and entered the building. His little girl laughed happily as she spotted something to her liking and ran up to some shelves.

Shark looked somewhat warily around him while he sniffed the air. To his relief he couldn't smell any infected in the building so that he catched up to his pup and sat down right next to her on his haunches. He watched his little girl how she stretched and tried to grab something from the shelves. But no matter how much she stretched she couldn't reach what she wanted.

Curiously the hunter regarded the things more up closely only to recognize the many metal things as cans. What were these cans good for again?

“Shark? Can you get them?” The voice of his pup catched his attention so that he swiftly looked down at her. The little girl pointed at first at him, then at the cans and finally she made some movements with her hands like she wanted to grab the cans and put them on the ground.

Shark nodded slightly before he reached up and pushed the many cans from the shelves so that they fell loudly on the ground.

His little girl smiled happily as she grabbed some of the cans and regarded them closely.

“Lots of fruits. There is some meat too... That would be something for you, Shark. Oh, that's beans, I think.” Chiara licked her lips as she looked at all the small pictures on the cans before she frowned slightly and looked briefly around.

“How do I open it?”, she asked herself while Shark just cocked his head in confusion. What was the matter now? And what did she want with these cans anyway?

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard a rough cough even though it seemed like it was far away from their location. He strained his ears nonetheless and listened to the noises outside. There it was again. Coughing from a smoker. He was just about to focus his attention on his pup again as suddenly a low growl joined the coughing of the smoker. That was definitely a growl of a hunter even though he was sure that it didn't belong to Scarface. The bigger hunter's growls sounded different. Was it a hunter of Scarface's pack or an entirely other hunter?

Whoever it was he had no right to be here in his hunting grounds!

A choked scream that was abruptly cut off and followed by a quiet snarl catched his full attention again. Wait... Had the hunter just killed the smoker? At least it sounded like that was the case.

Shark was pulled out of his musings once again as a small hand suddenly grabbed his index finger and pulled on it. He quickly looked at his pup who pulled his index finger towards one of the cans on the ground. He cocked one of his eyebrows questioningly but decided to wait to see what the little girl was up to.

Chiara pressed his finger with the claw against the lid of the can before she dragged the appendage along the edges of the can with a look of pure concentration on her face. Shark just cocked his head anew as he could see and feel how his claw tore through the thin metal. He was still confused about all this until a weird smell reached his nose. He needed some seconds to realize that the scent came from the now open can.

His pup released his finger from her grip as the can was open and happily plunged her hand in the sticky stuff in the can. With a happy squeal she took some of the yellowish things and stuffed them in her mouth.

Oh, now he got it. The food was in the cans, so you had to open them somehow. Shark nodded slightly to himself before he watched his little girl eat. He couldn't help himself but to smile at the sight of a happy little girl that ate enthusiastically her food and got herself all dirty with the sticky stuff.

Chiara finished the contents of the can in record time whereupon she licked her lips and fingers clean – even though they were still somewhat sticky afterwards.

“That was yummy.” Even though Shark didn't understand a word he could hear that his little girl was content and that was all that mattered.

His pup stood up slowly before she looked around her and started to walk along the different shelves. What was she looking for?

“Chrrraa?”, Shark called his pup's name as he crawled after her only to find her standing in front of another shelve. But other than the shelves before he couldn't spot any cans on this one. Instead there were three weird things which he often had seen on the backs of the prey.

“Shark! Get it for me!”, demanded the little girl while she pointed meaningfully at the three objects. The hunter obediently reached up and grabbed one of the objects whereupon he stared at it in the attempt to figure out what it was.

“That's a backpack.” He looked up from the object in his hands to look at his little girl instead who pointed at the thing in his hands.

“Backpack.”, she said very slowly while she still pointed at the object. So, that thing was called a backpack. Even though he now had a definition for it he still didn't know for what it was any good.

“Wwaachaaack.”, he grumbled halfheartedly before Chiara took the backpack from his hands with a amused grin on her lips. She hurriedly ran past him and back to the cans on the floor.

Shark followed her once again and sat down beside her on his haunches. He watched how his pup grabbed the cans and stuffed them into the backpack whereupon he also finally understood for what the backpack was used. At least he thought that he got it.

After she got all the cans in that would fit in she closed the backpack and pulled it on her back. But as she tried to walk she promptly lost her balance and fell back on the floor.

“It's too heavy.. and the straps are too big.”, whined the little girl with a big pout before she looked between the backpack and the hunter back and forth. It seemed like she got an idea.

“You can carry it!” Chiara turned with a grin on her lips to Shark who just looked confused at her. He had no idea what she wanted from him.

His pup's face fell somewhat as she didn't get the reaction she probably had wanted from him before she furrowed her brow. Shark stared at his pup for some seconds but quickly had enough. They should be going already. It wasn't entirely safe in here or out there. They could come back here tomorrow when his pup would be hungry again.

Without any warning he bit down on Chiara's hoodie and lifted her from the ground whereupon the little girl squealed out of surprise. Shark quickly sniffed the air to make sure that there were no brethren of his anywhere near. He could smell some of them but they weren't near the building.

Satisfied he crawled to the destroyed door of the supermarket as his little girl started to struggle.

“Wait! We can't leave the food!” Shark just ignored her shout as he crawled out on the street and briefly looked around him before he jumped on a rooftop of a small house nearby. As he landed he promptly tumbled to the ground while he hissed in pain. Shit, he totally forgot about his ribs.

“Shark?! What's wrong?”, asked his pup worried who tried to look at him but failed due to her limited freedom of movement.

Shark was just about to purr reassuringly at his little girl as he heard the same low growl from before. It sounded nearer this time. He couldn't fight another hunter in his state.

Gritting his teeth he slowly propped himself up before he leaped to another rooftop and then to the next. Through all of it he desperately tried to ignore the pain and pushed his body to its limit. He had to get his pup to the safety of their nest.

He held the short way out even though he instantly collapsed as he barely climbed through the window and into the apartment. He panted hard while a quiet whimper escaped him. He just needed some good sleep and then anything would be better.

“Shark? Shark! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Shark?!” Panting the hunter looked up at his frantic pup who seemed more than just worried about him.

A strained growl left his lips as he tried to prop himself up again. He even succeeded whereupon he grabbed his little girl and carried her in one arm in the bedroom where the nest was located. He quickly jumped on the bed and lay down on the nest with his pup.

He briefly looked out of the big window out of the corner of his eye only to notice that it was slowly getting dark outside. That definitely had been an eventful day.

He purred lowly to comfort his little girl while he closed his one remaining eye and relaxed. He could feel how his pup snuggled up to him before he slowly but surely drifted off to sleep.

He just hoped that tomorrow everything would be mostly healed.


	6. Chasing the unknown

It was the next morning as Chiara woke up from her fitful sleep. The first thing that she noticed was that it was comfortably warm before she realized that the warmth came from Shark who was pressed up against her.

With a quiet yawn the little girl looked up only to see the still sleeping face of the hunter. Odd, she would have bet that he was already awake. She at least had gotten the impression that all the bad people didn't have to sleep much – if at all.

But Chiara couldn't help herself but to smile softly as she regarded Shark's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful and fully relaxed, unlike yesterday. That reminded her of something...

Shark had been hurt! She instantly became worried again as she hurriedly sat up and regarded the sleeping hunter more closely. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't spot any injuries beside the four scratches on the small hunter's cheek – and even those were mostly healed by now.

But he really seemed to be in pain the day before – even though the little girl didn't know why. She knew only one thing. The pain Shark had been in couldn't have been caused from these scratches, so it had to be something else.

She pondered on it for some seconds longer before she sighed quietly and gave up. She just hoped that he wouldn't be in any pain anymore when he woke up.

With that in mind the five year old turned her head so she could look to the big window in the room. The dawn was starting with the first sunbeams.

Chiara stayed in bed for a while longer until she got bored and was fed up with resting and not moving for a period of time. Shark wasn't awake yet and it didn't seem like that would be the case in the near future.

After she looked briefly at the hunter, to confirm that he was indeed still asleep, she slowly shifted out of his tight embrace and crawled quietly to the edge of the huge bed.

She immediately stopped in her tracks as Shark grumbled loudly before he curled up with a quiet growl. She waited some seconds longer but no more sounds could be heard from the hunter, so that she proceeded and finally climbed down from the bed.

Chiara swiftly walked out of the bedroom and in the living room while she reached up and pulled the blue hood from her head. She really couldn't understand why it was so important for Shark that she wore that thing over her head. But she didn't dare to go against an angry hunter – and Shark had been angry as she had refused to wear the hood.

With a quiet sigh the little girl reached up again and tightened her pigtails clumsily before she spotted something on the floor. She faltered slightly – unsure what this meant.

Just in the middle of the living room stood a backpack – the backpack full with food that they had left behind in the supermarket.

The little girl downright pounced on the backpack before she clumsily ripped it open and could only stare in disbelieve at all the cans in it. She furrowed her brow as she cocked her head out of bewilderment.

Why was the backpack here? And how did it get here in the first place? Did Shark go back to the supermarket and brought it back? Very unlikely, but she couldn't come up with another explanation. No one else than the small hunter could have done it. He knew where the backpack had been but on the other hand Chiara doubted that the hunter would have done this with the pain he had been in.

A quiet noise from behind her startled her whereupon she spun around, only to come face to face with her companion, who seemed to be awake by now. She hadn't even heard him until he was standing right behind her.

“Don't do that. You scared me, Shark.”, mumbled the little girl while she took a deep breath.

But the hunter didn't pay her any attention, instead he stared at the backpack before he let an uneasy growl slip. His remaining eye roamed the room wildly before he sidestepped the little girl to bent down and to sniff at the backpack. He seemed to get more and more agitated the longer he smelled the backpack.

Chiara cocked her head anew while she observed the small hunter's actions. Judging by his reaction he really wasn't the one who brought the backpack back.

But who could have done it then?

She was pulled out of her thoughts as Shark started to growl and slowly crawled to the window through that they had left and entered the apartment. As she saw how he crouched down and prepared himself for a jump the little girl acted without thinking.

She swiftly ran up to him whereupon she grabbed his arm and clung tightly to it.

“Wait! Don't go. At least not without me!” Even though she knew that the hunter couldn't understand her, she wasn't able to stop talking to him. When she would stop talking then who would be left to do it? Besides she never had been a big fan of long lasting silence.

Shark looked at her before he snarled quietly out of irritation, but didn't try to wrench her off his arm nonetheless. The little girl took this for a good sign.

“What's wrong? Who got the backpack?”, she asked her companion who seemed to have understood and recognized at least one of the words as he looked back at the backpack and slightly shook his head for an answer.

“You don't know...?”, guessed the little girl before she sighed loudly and hesitantly released Shark's arm from her tight grip.

“Come on, let us eat something first before we go and look for the person.”, suggested Chiara while she pointed at the backpack with the cans in it.

As Shark just cocked his head out of confusion she stepped up to the backpack with a wry smile on her lips. She grabbed one of the cans before she showed it to Shark and pointed meaningfully at the lid of the can.

It seemed like the hunter remembered the day before as he slowly took the can from her hands and opened it with one of his claws – just like she had done it with his index finger at the supermarket. After it was open all the way he gave the can back whereupon the little girl grabbed it with a proud as well as a happy smile.

In the can was pinkish stuff – some fruits she couldn't remember the definition of.

“Thank you Shark. Oh, that would be for you.” Smiling she pulled another can out of the backpack and gave it to the hunter who also opened this one without any questions. She could see how he faltered as he saw and probably smelled the contents of the can.

“That's meat. You can eat it. It's for you.”, offered the little girl warmly while she pointed at first at the meat in the can and then at Shark. As the hunter gave her an unsure look she just smiled back reassuringly before she stuffed one piece of fruit from her own can in her mouth and chewed happily on it. It tasted really sweet.

Shark seemed to hesitate for some seconds longer before he at last grabbed clumsily some of the meat and crammed it in his mouth. The surprised as well as delighted moan that followed brought the little girl to laugh.

“I'm happy to see that you like it.”, said Chiara happily while she watched how the hunter devoured the small portion of the meat like he was starving. She rather watched him eating the meat out of the can than the flesh of some animal or some other creature. The mere thought of the dead deer made her sick.

She hurriedly shook her head in an attempt to shoo these thoughts away before she concentrated on the contents of her own can which she quickly ate. As she was finished with eating she looked up at Shark who looked at her with a frown – or to be more specific at her head that was missing a hood on top of it.

“What?!”, snapped the little girl who already knew what the problem was. But instead of replying anything Shark just snorted awkwardly and turned around to crawl in the direction of the glassless window again.

“Hey, wait! I want to go with you!”, exclaimed Chiara as she clung to Shark's arm a second time this morning.

The hunter looked down at her whereupon he shook his arm in an attempt to get her to let go. As that proved itself useless he started to growl in an impatient fashion and grabbed the little girl to pull her off his arm. But this also ended in failure. Chiara wouldn't let go until Shark would take her with him. She wasn't a pigheaded fellow for nothing.

Her own pleading face promptly transformed into a big satisfied grin as Shark's loud defeated sigh reached her ears, so that she finally let go of his arm and petted him swiftly on the cheek. She didn't even make a fuss as Shark grabbed her hood and pulled the blue material over her head. If she had to wear the hood in order to be allowed to go outside with Shark then so be it.

Knowing what would come next she swiftly turned around on her own and waited for Shark to bite down on her hoodie. The way the hunter carried her around still reminded her of an overgrown cat that carried its baby kitty around. Even though it felt somewhat awkward to dangle like that from her hoodie she still thought that it was kinda cute.

The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as Shark lifted her from the floor and swiftly climbed through the window and from there up on to the roof. She could practically imagine how his nostrils flared as he smelled the air around them with a deep breath.

It took some seconds but Shark eventually sniffed the scent out that he probably had smelled on the backpack. This time around Chiara didn't squeal out of delight as they leaped from rooftop to rooftop – even though she couldn't suppress the happy smile that was quickly plastered on her face.

She was still wondering how the backpack had gotten in the living room and who had done it. But no matter how long she pondered on it she couldn't come up with a satisfying answer, so that she sighed deeply and just decided that she would have to wait and see.

The five year old squealed out of surprise as the hunter suddenly turned sharply left before he dropped some meters, only to jump on a higher building up again and then to sprint over the rooftops. Through the whole stunt – or should she rather call it a race?! – the little girl clutched her own hoodie tightly – out of fright that she would by any chance slip through her hoodie, which was somewhat too big for her.

Just as she was about to tell Shark to slow down the small hunter stopped on his own and sharply turned his head in a specific direction. Chiara needed some seconds to realize at what exactly he was looking.

A run-down looking house – the exact same run-down looking house in that Shark had found her in a closet and in that her mummy and daddy had left her.

“What are we doing here, Shark?”, asked the little girl weakly who had to bear down the tears that threatened to spill out of her glossy eyes. She didn't want to be reminded of the fact that her mummy and daddy wouldn't come back for her anymore.

But the hunter ignored her words while he jumped from the roof and landed safely in front of the entrance of the run-down looking house. He slowly crawled into the house whereupon he bent down and released her hoodie from his teeth so he could move around more freely.

Chiara looked up at the hunter who stuck his nose in the air and started to sniff wildly until he seemed to have located his target. He quickly grabbed the little girl and shoved her in a small storeroom. She was about to protest about that as Shark just grabbed the door and slammed the door shut – cutting her off in the process.

“Hey!”, exclaimed she indignantly before she crossed her arms with an angry huff. What was that all about now?! Grumbling lowly to herself she faltered as she spotted that the door wasn't really closed. It seemed like Shark hadn't slammed the door hard enough in his haste to go after the unknown person, so that he left the door unintentionally ajar.

Even though she wanted to leave this storeroom she hesitated to do just that. Shark wouldn't have put her in here without any good reasons. And out there could be more of the bad people who would hurt her very bad.

She bit her bottom lip while she contemplated what to do. Should she wait here for Shark or should she just take the risk and go after the small hunter? She didn't want to be left alone again. She just couldn't shake the bad feeling off that Shark might not be coming back for her – just like her parents didn't.

The decision was taken from her as loud giggling and laughter reached her ears and catched her attention.

Chiara furrowed her brow while she listened closely, in hopes to hear it again. She couldn't just have imagined that noise. The anew laughter that sounded much nearer this time confirmed that.

But who was laughing? Could the bad people even laugh? Chiara couldn't remember that she had ever heard an infected laughing. So, did this mean that it wasn't someone of the bad people but a survivor?

The little girl swiftly looked out between the open crack but couldn't spot anything with such a limited view. She still hesitated for some seconds but finally her continuously growing curiosity couldn't be ignored anymore.

Taking a deep breath she pushed the door open and stepped in the room whereupon she looked around her, but couldn't spot anything special.

While she fumbled nervously with the end of one of the sleeves of her hoodie she slowly walked across the big room until she reached the wide hallway with the staircase that lead to the first floor. She couldn't really remember that this run-down looking house was that big.

A sudden thud that sounded from the floor above startled the little girl who flinched violently and hurriedly looked up the stairs. Shortly after the sounds of growling and snarling also reached her ears. That definitely sounded like a hunter – even though she wasn't too sure if it really was just one hunter who made all that noise.

“Shark?!” Unsure what she should do Chiara called her companion with a shaky voice but instead of a growl or something similar an insane sounding laughter answered her call. The little girl instantly grew stiff as she quickly realized that this sound came from behind her and not from the floor above her.

Before she was able to turn around a heavy force collided with her, so that she tumbled to the floor with a shocked yelp. Panicked she hurriedly propped herself up on all fours but faltered as she was about to stand up fully on both her legs. She promptly was scared stiff as she came face to face with some crippled monkey-looking thing, whose face was just some inches from hers.

What was that thing? She just knew that it looked really ugly and that he – she just noticed now that it was male – had to be the one who just shoved her to the floor – what had been somewhat painful.

The at first frowning then confused face of the monkey-looking man unsettled the little girl who just became confused herself. She thought that that thing wanted to hurt her just like all the other bad people and now it was just staring at her, apparently not sure what he should think about her.

Swallowing hard she slowly scooted back on all fours to get more room between herself and the monkey – not daring to stand up just yet.

It was then that the monkey seemed to have made up his mind as he started to laugh like a maniac while he bounced up and down before he started to jump around her in circles. This behavior didn't help to cease Chiara's confusion – on the contrary, she just got more confused about all of this.

She watched the actions of the monkey with a wary eye while she unintentionally sat back on her haunches – just like Shark always did it. But this little change in posture seemed to be enough to encourage the monkey-looking man further who instantly giggled insanely and without any warning grabbed the tiny shoulders of the little girl with his too big hands.

Chiara promptly flinched back while she tried to oppress the terror that threatened to overtake her.

“Let go!”, demanded the little girl with a shaky voice whereupon the monkey frowned deeply and jerkily grabbed her hood to pull it clumsily off her head.

He barely saw her face as he shouted out of wonder but quickly started to laugh like a maniac again. His hands twitched a couple of times as they tightened their grip on her shoulders painfully before he jumped slightly up and shifted his weight towards her so that she barely could keep standing.

“No! Go away!”, shouted the little girl panicked as the disfigured face of the monkey rushed towards her own while her legs gave in under the combined weight on the same time.

She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to look death in the face, as a sudden ear-battering shriek reached her ears and the monkey's weight suddenly disappeared from on top of her. Surprised and relieved about the fact that Shark came to her rescue Chiara opened her eyes again, only to see someone else crouching beside her lying form.

She could just stare in bewilderment at her savior who snarled out of fury and slashed violently at the monkey-looking man who let a startled yelp sound and jumped swiftly back to evade the sharp claws.

Who was that? And what was he? At first glance she would have guessed that her savior was a hunter but one missing article of clothing threw her for a loop. Weren't hunters supposed to wear hoodies?

Her savior wore a dark brown t-shirt, dark blue pants, he was barefoot and on his head he wore a baseball cap with a camouflage design in dark gray shades – and even though it was pulled deep down above his face it still did a poor job of protecting his eyes from the light, if the action of squinting his eyes was anything to go by. And she just noticed now that this hunter still had both of his eyes, even though she couldn't make out the eye colour. Instead she thought that she detected some brown short hair that stuck out at some spots from under the baseball cap.

She didn't know why but her savior looked very familiar to her, even though she just couldn't remember of who he reminded her of.

But before she could have pondered on it a while longer a second furious snarl – that didn't come from her savior – pulled her out of her thoughts. She quickly looked up whereupon she spotted an angry Shark on top of the staircase.

As the monkey spotted Shark as well he hurriedly fled the scene. That thing probably realized that it was outmatched and didn't stand a chance against two hunters.

Chiara groggily sat up and sighed deeply while she looked between the two hunters back and forth until her gaze stayed on her savior who was also staring at her from under his baseball cap so that his face was cloaked in shadows.

The hunter whined loudly as he reached out to her, but quickly spun around in the direction of Shark who growled warningly at the other hunter. The little girl could have sworn that she saw in this fleeting moment as the hunter reached out for her a guilty as well as longing expression on his face. But why? What was it with this weird hunter?

The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts once again as Shark pounced on the other hunter who swiftly dodged with a jump backwards. With a last growl that was directed at Shark and a fleeting look at the little girl he spun around and leaped through the entrance of the run-down looking house.

As Chiara saw how Shark tensed up in order to leap after the other hunter she quickly propped herself up and clung to one of his arms.

“Dont! Let him go! Stay with me...”, pleaded the little girl while she clutched Shark's arm only tighter and pressed her face against the appendage. She didn't want to be left behind. Besides that weird hunter saved her, so the least they could do was to not follow him and let him be. Even though she still asked herself why he looked so familiar to her?

Shark growled out of irritation as he shook his arm but quickly gave up and instead pulled her hood over her head again and bent down to bite down on her hoodie whereupon the little girl hesitantly let go of his arm.

The small hunter carried her outside through the entrance of the run-down looking house only to stop in his tracks and to stare at something.

“What is it?” Confused the five year old followed Shark's line of sight only to spot in the distance on a rooftop a small figure. Was that the weird hunter? It seemed like it. But he was only watching her and Shark and didn't make a move to come near or to go away. That hunter was really strange in Chiara's opinion.

“Shark?”, unsure she hesitantly called the hunter's name as after some seconds nothing was happening. It seemed like her voice snapped him out of his trance as he purred lowly at her and slightly shook his head.

Some more seconds passed before Shark finally moved again. He crouched down to jump on one of the roofs of the nearby standing houses. As he leaped in the direction of the other hunter her savior sprung up on all fours and quickly leaped away, out of their sight. Chiara could hear how Shark snorted confidently about the other hunter's retreat before he purred happily.

The little girl couldn't help herself but to wonder if she would see the weird hunter again. She would be telling a lie if she would say that she wasn't curios about her savior.

Who was he?


	7. Rude awakening

_Growling quietly to himself the hunter in the red hoodie crawled slowly along the edge of the rooftop he currently was on. Even though his one eye was directed at his prey on the street below he knew exactly where his brethren were located._

_He could hear the panicked pants of their prey, the low growls and snarls of his brethren and the quiet noises they made when they moved to a new location._

_Everyone knew what he had to do. They were experts, predators, hunters, one entity out of many – they were a pack. A pack full of hungry hunters – and a hungry hunter was a dangerous hunter._

_He licked his lips as he looked hungrily at the four survivors who walked with shaky legs along the street while they clutched their guns tight ly and looked around them every so often. From what he could see it had to be one male and three female preys. And all of them were terrified._

_He could smell their fear clearly – even up here on the rooftops._

_He couldn't help himself but to feel excited as he sucked the scent in, while he knew that he wasn't the only one who was thrilled because of the hunt and the kill that would happen very soon._

_Living prey was rare these days, so that this made the hunt even more special this night._

_A loud shriek nearby signalized the start of the hunt. Finally!_

_He swiftly crouched down to gather enough energy in his legs for his next jump. With a loud high pitched screech he leaped from the roof only to land some meters in front of the prey on the street, whereupon he spun around to them with a loud snarl._

_The man promptly pointed his gun at the small hunter with a loud gasp, while two of the three women needed some seconds longer to lift their guns and the third woman dropped her gun out of surprise._

_But before any of them were able to shoot the small hunter three other shrieks could be heard, before three heavy forces landed on each survivor who was holding a gun in their hands and crushed them under their weight._

_The small hunter growled lowly as he watched how two of the other three hunters sliced the throat of the prey open while the third one, who wore a dark green hoodie with a black hood, put his hand on the man's head and applied tauntingly some pressure on it. Enough that it would hurt but not enough pressure to kill the prey._

_It was always the same with their alpha – who was a sadistic bastard. He loved it to play a while with his prey before he killed it, so that he prefered it to hunt alone and without his pack. Not all members of their pack liked it very much to fool around with the prey before killing and eating it._

_And the small hunter in the red hoodie was one of them, so that he could only stare in slight disdain at the scene in front of him._

_But before he could dwell any longer on it a movement out of the corner of his eye catched his attention. He quickly turned his head, only to spot the third and last woman who had picked up her gun by now and was pointing the thing at the alpha – even though her hands shook like mad and could barely hold the gun properly._

_The small hunter swiftly crouched down before he pounced on the poor woman who tumbled to the hard ground with a loud panicked cry. Snarling he did what the other two hunters had done before and cut the woman's throat open – ending her miserable life quick and painless._

_He jumped slightly as suddenly a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, so that he quickly turned his head, only to come face to face with Scarface whose scarred face was just some inches away from his own._

_The alpha gave him a toothy grin before he leaned forward and bumped his forehead roughly against the smaller one's forehead._

_The smaller hunter had to restain himself from scooting back immediately and forced himself to stand still and let Scarface do what he wanted. It always ended bad when the bigger hunter didn't get what he wanted._

_But wasn't the bigger hunter occupied by his prey?_

_Curiously he looked to the side from the corner of his eye. Not some meters away lay the man's corpse which now had a gaping hole in its chest. Not a very pretty sight. But he had seen much worse._

_The small hunter was pulled out of his thoughts as Scarface shoved him roughly to the side to bent down and to take a bite of the woman._

_Right. The alpha always got the first bite. No one was allowed to eat before the alpha did._

_But why was he eating from the woman the small hunter killed and not from the other corpses or even from the man he killed himself?_

_The small hunter didn't really get it. Why did he always get all the extra attention from the alpha?_

_He warily looked between Scarface and the other two hunters – who were also bigger than himself – back and forth. Including Scarface the three were the biggest hunters they had in the pack while he himself was the smallest one – at least the smallest male. His mate was a little bit smaller than himself, but she was a female and so the size didn't matter. But for a male it was different. If you weren't big, muscular and intimidating looking then no one would take you seriously or for a threat._

_You at least had to have an average size in order to get along just fine, but the hunter in the red hoodie was even smaller than that._

_He grumpily ground his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. Usually he didn't really care and didn't compare himself to others but in moments like these, when three giants judged him critically during a hunt, he couldn't help himself but to feel uncomfortable and unsecure in his small body._

_He was pulled out of his musings once again as one of the other two hunters growled loudly at him in order to catch his attention._

_Scarface and the other two were about to take off with their prey and were just waiting for him. The small hunter hurriedly bent down to bite down on a portion of the woman's flesh which wasn't nibbled on yet by the alpha and hauled the dead body from the ground. Scarface nodded slightly before they all jumped on the nearest roof and began their little journey towards their den – to bring the rest of the pack some food that they had to share among themselves._

_It wasn't long until they arrived at their destination – a row of abandon warehouses near the harbor._

_They swiftly entered one of the biggest one whereupon Scarface screeched loudly to summon the rest of the pack. Bit by bit the rest of the pack entered the huge room while their eyes instantly locked on the still fresh flesh of the dead survivors._

_The small hunter barely dropped the dead woman as suddenly a blue bundle came out of nowhere and pounced on him with a squeaky growl. As he looked down he could see a little figure who clung to the front of his hoodie. The little thing tilted its head back so it could look into the hunter's face with a big toothy grin plastered on its face._

_The small hunter instantly grinned back before he purred happily and put his arms around his pup – his little girl – who also started to purr out of delight in response and huddled closer against him._

_The hunter in the red hoodie looked up again as he noticed a new presence beside him only to come face to face with his beautiful mate, who leaned slowly forward so that she could lick at first his cheek and then his slightly parted lips – her way of welcoming him back from a succesful hunt._

_The small hunter cocked his head before he pressed his face into the curve of her neck and nibbled lightly on the surprisingly soft skin he found there whereupon his mate mewled happily._

_But the huntress didn't hold still for too long as she suddenly grabbed the shoulders of her mate and pushed him not too gently to the ground. The small hunter yelped out of surprise as the world around him started to spin, before everything came to a sudden halt again and he found himself lying on his back with his mate straddling him and with his pup still snuggled up to his chest._

_His mate was a really big bundle of energy, so that she sometimes was too much for him – unfortunately for him, his little girl came after her mother and had even more energy than his mate._

_But he loved them both dearly nevertheless._

_The hunter in the red hoodie looked curiously to the side as he heard a quiet angry growl not too far away. He quickly found the source of the noise as his one eye and Scarface's empty eye sockets met, who was looking at him and his little family with an intense stare – if you could even call it that because of the lack of the eyes._

_The alpha really looked angry, it even seemed like he could barely retain his rage. But rage for what? Why was Scarface so angry all of the sudden? The small hunter just didn't get it._

_He held still for some seconds longer before he slowly pushed his mate off of him and awkwardly sat up while he still kept an eye on the bigger hunter, who seemed to be a little bit calmer now that his mate wasn't kneeing over him anymore._

_Strange. He would never understand the alpha._

_He was pulled out of his thoughts as a squeaky growl reached his ears and a small hand petted clumsily his cheek in an attempt to get his attention._

_He quickly looked down at his little girl who opened her mouth like she was about to say something – even though that wasn't possible._

“ _Shark!”_

“Shark! Help!”

A panicked scream coupled with the noise of shattering glass woke the hunter up. He promptly jumped up on all fours and hissed loudly while he franticly looked around him for the source of the noise.

What he saw shocked him before the anger welled up in him.

A tongue of a smoker was wrapped around Chiara's waist and dragged the little girl roughly out of the nest. She already was on the balcony and desperately reached out for him before she disappeared from his sight as she was pulled over the railing.

Shark swiftly leaped from the bed and out on the balcony where he immediately looked over the railing. But no matter how hard or where he looked he couldn't spot his pup anywhere.

Where was she?!

Shark couldn't help the panic that threatened to overtake him as he franticly looked out for her without any success.

The small hunter hissed out of distress before a faint scent in the air catched his attention. That was Chiara's scent, no doubt about it.

How could he forget that? He could track his little girl through her scent. He hurriedly stuck his nose in the air and inhaled deeply whereupon he jumped on the railing and from there on a nearby rooftop. He just had to follow his little girl's scent.

He got more and more agitated as more and more new scents mixed with Chiara's. He wasn't too sure what all these smells were – even though he could tell them apart quiet easily. There were at least three different scents, which made it difficult to concentrate only on his little girl's scent.

The hunter got distracted as loud coughing reached his ears. He abruptly turned his head whereupon he spotted a smoker whose tongue was cut short. That had to be the damn smoker who had dared to snatch his pup away from him!

Shark immediately crouched down before he jumped high in the air and pounced on the unsuspecting smoker with a furious snarl. He didn't even think about it first before he ducked his claws into the flesh of his victim. In his short lived rage he literally ripped the poor smoker apart until a sudden cloud of smoke exploded right into his face.

The small hunter coughed violently as the foul-smelling smoke crawled up his nose whereupon he stumbled away from the corpse and gagged slightly. He blinked several times as his one eye started to tear because of the thick smoke.

Now that his rage was wearing off he remembered his little girl again. Right. Where was she?!

He quickly looked around him – even though he could barely see anything through the thick smoke that wasn't vanishing fast enough.

Growling to himself he swiftly jumped on another rooftop and out of the cloud of smoke. But he realized too late that he miscalculated a bit. Instead of landing on a rooftop he narrowly missed it, so that he was sailing through the air instead.

In a rush of panic he reached for something whereupon he got to grab a windowsill that creaked dangerously as it stopped his fall. He quickly reached up and grasped another windowsill before he started climbing until he finally reached the top.

Damn smoker. First the bastard snatched his pup and then he nearly killed him with his damn smoke!

Shark hissed out of anger before he shook his head and reminded himself that he had more important things to do. He had to look for Chiara.

He hurriedly sniffed the air but the only thing that he could smell was the frigging awful smelling smoke, which still lingered in his nostrils.

The hunter snarled furiously as he gave up and instead looked around him, hoping to spot his little girl somewhere.

“Chrrrraaaa!” He yelled his pup's name as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop – looking for his little girl desperately.

He had to find her!


	8. Family reunion

She was going to die!

If the smoker wouldn't kill her than the fall from that balcony would.

Chiara screamed out of fright as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and wished desperately for Shark to save her. She didn't want to die like that, she didn't want to die at all!

Before the little girl could think about anything else, she was suddenly grabbed midair only to be pressed against something soft and warm. She automatically clung to the person while her face was pressed against the soft material, so that her terrified screams were muffled because of it.

After that everything happened too fast for the five year old to comprehend. The only thing she knew was that she was safe – for now at least – and that everything else didn't matter.

Not till a soft purr reached her ears and she finally realized that they had stopped moving, did the little girl dare to open her eyes. The first thing that she saw was the colour brown before she identified it as a clothed chest, so that she hesitantly lifted her head in order to look her savior in the face.

It couldn't be Shark, because the small hunter wore a dark red hoodie with black sleeves and not a brown shirt. Her assumption was confirmed as her grey-blue eyes met crystal blue ones which looked intently down at her.

“You are...”, started the little girl before she cut herself off and just shook her head out of disbelieve. A dark brown T-shirt, dark blue pants, a baseball cap with a camouflage design in dark gray shades and two eyes. There was no doubt about it. That was the hunter from the day before who had now saved her a second time.

The thought back to her fall not some minutes ago let the little girl realize that she could have been dead by now.

A choked sob left her lips as the tears started to flow and her small body began to shake slightly. The shock was catching up to her. She was just a five year old girl, after all.

The weird hunter instantly pressed her against his chest while one hand petted her back reassuringly and the other hand ran soothingly through her ginger hair. He purred lowly as he started to rock her gently in an attempt to calm her somewhat down.

It took some time but eventually the little girl calmed down again as only quiet hiccups could be heard from her. Slightly sniffing she reached up and wiped her last tears away.

“Thank you...”, mumbled Chiara weakly before a soft purr answered her.

Now that she could think clearly again she noticed that the way the weird hunter had tried to calm her down was very familiar to her. The only other person who had done the exact same things when she had been upset, had been her...

A sudden yell that could be heard in the distance pulled the little girl out of her thoughts as she immediately perked up. She could be wrong but she could have sworn that she heard her name being yelled – not her real name, but Shark's version of her name.

Without thinking she pressed her small hands against the hunter's chest who reluctantly let go of her, whereupon she rushed to the next best window and tried to look out. But unfortunately she was too small and didn't even reach the windowsill, so that all she could see was the dark sky.

She didn't realize until now that it was still nighttime and that it seemed like the weird hunter had brought her in some house.

The little girl squealed out of surprise as she was suddenly grabbed from behind and lifted from the floor, so that she could finally look out of the window. Chiara looked briefly over her shoulder at the weird hunter who was holding her up, before she turned away again and instead looked out the window, hoping to spot Shark somewhere.

But unfortunately she couldn't see that much in the dark. She was about to give up as another yell, that seemed to be nearer this time, could be heard.

“Shark... That was Shark! Let me down, I have to find him!”, demanded the little girl hurriedly as she pointed at first out the window and then at the floor under her feet, which dangled in the air.

But to her displeasure the hunter didn't let her down, instead he cradled her in his arms while he shook his head slightly and stepped away from the window.

“Let me down! Now! Please...” The little girl tried it anew while she pointed vehemently at the floor and started to struggle a little bit. She had to find Shark. The small hunter was surely worried sick about her. He saw her falling from the balcony after all. That thought still send an unpleasant shiver down her spine. She didn't want to experience such a fall again.

The hunter seemed to hesitate before he shook his head again and started to walk awkwardly on two legs. At first he walked out the room, down the hall and then out on the street through an open door, where he stopped to sniff the air.

Chiara blinked several times as she processed the information that the weird hunter could walk on two legs like she could. She had thought that hunters could only crawl on all fours like Shark did it all the time. Another thing that was weird about this hunter. Neither was he wearing a hoodie nor did he move like a normal hunter. What was it with him?

“Why do you can walk on two legs?” The little girl couldn't help herself but to ask her question out loud, while she tilted her head back so she could look the hunter better in the face. It would have been easier when her back wouldn't be pressed against the hunter's chest.

The hunter in the brown shirt stopped what he was doing and instead looked down at her, before he shrugged and slowly kneeled down to a more hunter-like posture. Now he was sitting on his haunches while he looked at her with one raised eyebrow – like he wanted to ask if that posture was any better.

Chiara furrowed her brow as she observed the hunters actions. If she didn't know it any better she could have sworn that the hunter understood her. But this couldn't be possible, or could it?

“Why aren't you wearing a hoodie? All the other hunters do.” Just to be sure she asked another question and was surprised as the hunter opened his mouth like he wanted to say something before he seemed to realize that he wasn't able to speak, so that he closed his mouth again with a loud snap and instead just shrugged.

“You can understand me, don't you?” This time she got a slow nod for an answer. So the weird hunter understood her words after all. But how was that even possible? Another thing she could put on her mental 'what-was-weird-about-the-hunter-in-the-brown-shirt'-list.

She was about to ask some other questions as some moans reached her ears. She quickly looked in the direction from where the noise came from only to spot some of the bad people who stumbled in their direction.

The weird hunter reacted promptly as he growled warningly at the commons and bared his teeth which were to Chiara's surprise not as bloody as she would have suspected. Shark's teeth were definitely bloodier than the weird hunter's teeth.

Some of the bad people stopped uncertainly about the situation while the rest stumbled on like nothing had happened.

The hunter sat still for some seconds longer, before he finally started to move. He quickly put one hand on the ground while he held the little girl still with one arm. With a last look at the bad people he started to crawl along the street only to turn left in an alleyway after some meters.

For the fact that he was using only three of his four limbs to crawl he was pretty quick on his feet – even though he could have been much faster when he would have both of his hands available.

He crouched down as he spotted a ladder of a fire-escape and swiftly jumped up to grab one rung of the ladder. From there he started to climb to the top of the building – still using only three of his limbs. As he finally reached the top he looked around him before he sat down cross-legged and put Chiara on his lap.

“You know, there would have been a much more faster method”, started Chiara to inform the hunter as she turned around to him in his lap, so she could look him better in his eyes and face. The weird hunter only cocked his head and rose one eyebrow – silently encouraging her to speak on.

“You know how cats carry their baby kitties around? You could have done the exact same thing.” As the hunter looked at her like she was crazy, she hurriedly added something to her prior speech.

“Shark does it like that. And it works just fine.”

The hunter only snorted very loudly and shook his head for an answer. It seemed like he didn't agree with Shark's method.

Both of them perked up as another yell could be heard in the distance, which was getting louder by the minute.

The weird hunter growled lowly as he quickly snatched the little girl from his lap so he could carry her again and fell back on his three free limbs. As the little girl realized that the weird hunter was about to take off with her again, she acted without thinking.

“SHARK!”, she screamed the name of the small hunter so loud she could, whereupon the hunter in the brown shirt froze on the spot as an answering call sounded near by.

The hunter snarled angrily at her before he looked around them and started to sniff the air – probably trying to find out from where Shark was coming.

An outraged shriek signalized the arrival of the small hunter who suddenly landed some meters to their side on the rooftop. The weird hunter whirled around in order to face Shark whereupon he bared his own teeth warningly and growled lowly.

Neither of them moved for a period of time – just staring at each other – before the hunter in the brown shirt crouched down without warning and leaped to the next rooftop. His landing was a little bit rough and clumsy because he was still holding the little girl and was just able to use one of his hands.

But the hunter didn't stop there, instead he started to sprint across the rooftops as Shark immediately followed him with a loud angry screech. As the little girl could sneak a peek over the hunter's shoulder she could see that Shark was hot on their tail – what wasn't that big of a surprise if one considered the fact that the hunter in the brown shirt was forced to slow down by holding her in one arm.

But why was he running away from Shark? And what did he want with her anyway?

The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as the hunter misjudged his next jump, so that he didn't land on the next rooftop but on the side of the building. He instantly clung to one of the many windowsills with one hand before he started to climb up as fast as he could.

He stopped in his tracks with a shocked sound as he grabbed the edge of the roof, only to stare directly in Sharks face as he looked up. While he had been climbing, the small hunter jumped on the roof and just waited for them on the edge of the rooftop.

Shark swiftly reached down for the little girl whereupon the other hunter snapped at Shark's arm, so that the smaller hunter was forced to pull back.

Shark snarled angrily as he reached for Chiara again while he slapped the other hunter in the face with his other hand in order to avoid getting bitten. But before he got a good grip on the five year old the taller hunter lost his own grip on the edge of the roof.

Chiara screamed out of fright as she was falling through the air a second time this night while she clutched the brown shirt of the hunter tightly, who pressed her against him in response and let a distressed shriek slip from his lips.

The little girl was sure that they would die as she suddenly saw a red and black blurred form from the corner of her eye, before a heavy force collided with them. Instead of a crash-landing on the ground they crashed through a window of a building.

The weird hunter instantly curled protectively around her to shield her from the fall and the shattered glass as they rolled roughly over the floor.

Not till they came to a stop did the little girl open her eyes again, which she had squeezed shut sometime during the whole rough landing process. She jumped slightly as a pained groan from under her and shortly after an angry growl from above her could be heard.

She quickly tried to process what happened, as she noticed that she was lying on the weird hunter's chest with Shark kneeling over them and holding the taller hunter down with a death grip on his shoulders.

It seemed like Shark had saved them. But how?

The little girl looked curiously back at the broken window as she thought she might got it right. It seemed like Shark diverted the direction of their fall by crashing into their side so they crashed through the window and not on the ground below.

A pained screech that was quickly followed by whining pulled her out of her musings, whereupon she quickly turned her head to the source of the noise.

She gasped loudly out of shock as she saw how Shark's claws were digging deep into the other hunter's right shoulder who still didn't let go of the little girl nonetheless.

“Stop that! Shark, I said...”, started the little girl, before she trailed off as she looked into the pained face of the hunter who was missing his baseball cap on top of his head, that he probably lost during the fall.

The hunter had a tussled brown mob of hair on his head at which a wide white strand of hair fell in his face. Just like her...

“Daddy...”, whispered the five year old out of disbelieve who just couldn't understand how that was even possible. That white strand of hair... There was no doubt about it. This hunter was her daddy.

But how? And why hadn't she noticed that earlier? The signs had been so clear! They found him where Chiara thought she had lost her mommy and daddy, he wore nearly the same clothes as before and he had calmed her down like he had done it as he had been still human. But above all that his face should have given him away – even though his face was dirty and bloody it was still the face of her daddy. How could she have been that stupid?

But maybe she just hadn't wanted to accept the fact that her daddy could become one of the bad people, so that she clung to the believe that he was dead – gone for ever.

“Shark stop! Stop! Don't hurt him! That's my daddy!”, shouted the little girl franticly before she grabbed the hand that was hurting her daddy and pulled on the appendage with all her might.

Shark growled out of irritation at her before he slowly gave in and pulled his hand reluctantly away from the now bloody shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Chiara just noticed how stupid that question was as she already had said the words out loud. Of course her daddy wasn't okay. He was bleeding from his shoulder and from some cuts he got from some pieces of broken glass.

But her daddy just nodded weakly and tried to give her a reassuringly smile, which looked more like a grimace than anything else.

Chiara sighed softly before she turned around to Shark who still looked angrily at her daddy.

“Shark?”, she softly called the hunter's name in order to catch his attention whereupon the small hunter looked at her.

“That was bad. Bad! Don't hurt my daddy again, okay?” While she spoke the little girl pointed at her father's bleeding shoulder and shook her head with a frown on her face.

The hunter in the dark red hoodie whined out of confusion as he looked between the five year old and the other hunter's wound back and forth.

“Don't do it again.” The little girl repeated her words as she pointed this time at first at Shark and then at her daddy's bleeding shoulder before she shook her head firmly.

Shark seemed to be still somewhat confused, but to Chiara's relief he just sagged his shoulders in defeat and grumpily turned his head to the side like he was offended by Chiara's disapproval.

The little girl quickly turned her head to her daddy again as she heard him hissing quietly.

“What's wrong?”, asked the five year old worriedly. Her daddy narrowed his eyes as he pointed in the direction of the window, whereupon the little girl turned around. The first sunbeams were falling through the shattered window. She hadn't realized that it already was dawn.

“Oh... right. Your baseball cap is gone”, muttered Chiara before she looked around and spotted the article of clothing at the window. The cap was hanging on one of the pieces of broken glass, which was still stuck to the window frame.

She hurriedly tried to stand up but her daddy's hands stopped her, which were still holding on to her.

“You can let go of me daddy. I get your baseball cap”, informed the little girl the hunter who hissed anew but reluctantly let go of her.

Chiara stood up immediately and ran up to the window, where she reached up for the baseball cap. But no matter how much she stretched she just couldn't reach the thing.

“Shark! Can you please get it for me?”, pleaded the little girl as she pointed meaningfully at the article of clothing. At first she doubted that Shark would do it as the small hunter just growled and stared at her – it seemed like he was still in a huff – before he finally crawled over to her and grabbed the baseball cap to hand it over to her.

“Thank you!” The little girl smiled up at the hunter in the dark red hoodie and petted him swiftly on the cheek before she rushed back to her daddy and put the baseball cap on top of his head. Her daddy stopped hissing then but he still narrowed his eyes slightly.

“We have to get you something better than this baseball cap”, said the little girl while she pointed at the article of clothing. That thing still did a poor job of protecting her daddy's eyes from the light.

She squealed out of surprise as Shark suddenly stepped up behind her and lifted her from the floor by biting down on her hoodie.

Her daddy immediately growled out of protest as he tried to sat up, but Shark prevented him from doing so as he pushed the bigger hunter back down. Her daddy whimpered quietly because the motion aggravated his wound just further. He bared his teeth in a last attempt to intimidate the smaller hunter somewhat.

But Shark just stared unimpressed at him before he let go of him and turned around to the broken window.

“Shark? Wait! We can't leave him here! He comes with us!” The little girl tried to make Shark understand as she pointed vehemently at the floor. The small hunter stopped shortly in front of the window and squinted down at her, before he turned his head in the direction of the bigger hunter.

Her daddy was in the process of propping himself up while he groaned miserably. Now that he was kneeling on all fours Chiara could see some pieces of broken glass, which stuck out from her daddy's flesh.

“Let me down!”, demanded the little girl as she pointed anew at the floor. To her relieve Shark seemed to have understood one of the words as he bent down and released her hoodie from his teeth with a displeased grunt.

The five year old swiftly ran up to her father and grabbed one broken piece of glass with slightly shaking hands. She tried to pull it out, but the damn thing didn't budge.

She jumped as Shark suddenly pushed her aside and grabbed the broken piece of glass himself, before he pulled roughly on it and yanked it out with one go. Her daddy hissed out of pain as the piece of broken glass was yanked out and tried to pull back from Shark, who growled warningly at him before he pressed one of his hands on the bigger hunter's back and forced him to lie down on his stomach.

The little girl watched how her daddy squirmed slightly as Shark continued to pull the other pieces of broken glass out. She was grateful for that, but she still didn't get why Shark was doing it. She had gotten the impression that the small hunter didn't like her daddy that much. He even would have left him here with his bleeding wounds. So why did he change his mind all of the sudden?

It didn't take Shark long to pull all the pieces of broken glass out, which were now stained with blood and laid on the floor. The small hunter let go of the bigger one and instead looked at the little girl, who smiled gratefully up at him and petted him once more on the cheek, before she turned to her daddy and grabbed gently one of his arms.

“You should say thank you to Shark”, advised the little girl her father who looked at first at her and then lifted his head while he sat up slowly.

He grit his teeth for a moment as he seemed to falter to do what his daughter advised him to do. Chiara couldn't tell if he just didn't want to do it or if he didn't know how to do it.

Finally it seemed like he came to a conclusion as he bowed his head and rubbed it slightly against Shark's shoulder with a very quiet purr, before he quickly retreated again and grumbled to himself.

The little girl smiled happily as Shark nodded slightly and bent down to bite down on her hoodie. As the little girl saw how her daddy was about to protest about that again, she quickly waved her hands in front of her.

“It's okay. I told you that Shark carries me around like that, didn't I? It's okay, daddy.”

Her daddy snorted again, just like he had done it on the roof as she had told him about Shark's method for the first time, before he sighed out of defeat and nodded slightly.

Shark crawled up to the window again, but before he jumped out of it he looked back at her daddy to make sure that he was following them. Satisfied he crouched down and leaped out of the broken window and landed on the opposite roof.

Chiara looked back at the window where her daddy seemed to hesitate for a moment to follow them, before he also jumped out of the window and barely missed the edge of the rooftop. Shark reacted quickly as he dropped the little girl on the roof and dived for the edge of the rooftop whereupon he barely got a good grip of one of her daddy's hands. With a strained groan the small hunter pulled the other one up on the rooftop, where her daddy collapsed out of exhaustion and pain.

The bigger hunter was a miserable sight to look at, so that Chiara couldn't help but pity him. It hurt her to hear the muffled pained sounds, which her daddy made.

Shark growled out of frustration before he grabbed her daddy's arms and pulled the bigger hunter on his back. As her daddy didn't react right away the small hunter snarled loudly at him, whereupon her daddy looped his arms around Shark's neck and his legs around his waist with a barely audibly snarl of his own. Even though her daddy was a bit bigger than Shark the difference in size wasn't enough to hinder Shark to carry her daddy around like that.

Grunting the hunter in the dark red hoodie made some steps to test out his balance with the new weight on his back, before he crawled over to the little girl and bit down on her hoodie to lift her from the ground.

The journey back to their apartment took longer than Chiara had thought. Shark needed a break now and then before he continued to jump from one rooftop to the next.

As they finally arrived at the apartment Shark crawled through the window into the big living room. He bent down and released Chiara's hoodie from his teeth before he pulled on the bigger hunter's arms roughly with an inpatient growl. Her daddy let go of the smaller hunter, so that he slid down his back until he sat on his haunches on the floor.

Her daddy really looked exhausted – like he would pass out any moment now.

“Come on daddy, we're going to bed.” While she spoke she pointed in the direction of the bedroom and couldn't stop the yawn from escaping her. She was quiet exhausted herself. She didn't get that much sleep in the night and it had been an eventful night after all.

The yawn barely left her lips as Shark scooped her up from the floor and carried her in the bedroom, where he jumped up on the bed and laid down with her.

Shortly after her daddy came stumbling in the room and looked warily at the two of them. Before he could have even considered to join Shark and her in the bed, the smaller hunter growled warningly at her daddy.

Chiara frowned at Shark's behavior before she shook her head with a loud sigh and quickly climbed from the bed. She stepped up to her daddy, grabbed one of his arms and guided him towards the bed.

“He will also sleep in the bed with us”, clarified the five year old with a big pout on her face.

Her daddy took her in his arms and slowly climbed on the bed. He barely stepped in the circle of pillows and blankets as he collapsed with a deep sigh, followed by a soft purr.

Shark grumbled out of displeasure about this, before he grudgingly accepted the situation and put one arm around the bigger hunter, who was still holding the little girl.

Her daddy opened his eyes again as he felt the arm around him, whereupon he looked at Shark and bared his teeth slightly. The smaller hunter just sneered back at him before he growled lowly and pressed one of his fingers warningly against one of her daddy's cuts.

The bigger hunter hissed quietly but didn't make a fuss after that. He just grumbled quietly to himself before he went limp and welcomed the darkness with open arms.

Chiara watched how her daddy's eyelids drooped as he was drifting off to sleep, before she looked at Shark with slight disapproval. The small hunter just made a soft sound in the back of his throat as he nuzzled the little girls head.

Chiara couldn't help but smile about that, so that she also closed her eyes with a quiet sigh.

She had her daddy back.

Everything would be just fine now. She couldn't be happier. She had her daddy and Shark with her and she intended to keep it that way from now on.


	9. Struggle for survival

“ _Please, honey, stay here. Don't come out, no matter what you hear! I will come and get you”, pleaded her father while he put his daughter in a closet._

“ _But daddy...!”, started Chiara but was quickly cut short from the man._

“ _No buts! You are staying here! Don't come out! Stay put until I or your mother comes back. Understood?”_

“ _Yes daddy”, replied Chiara weakly even though she didn't want to leave either side of her parents._

“ _Good girl. We will be back in no time”, promised her father before he closed the doors of the closet and quickly left the room to assist his wife on the hallway._

_He took a deep breath as he lifted his shotgun and stepped up to his beautiful wife, who was still shooting everything that got up the stairs. He was nearly at her side as he spotted a common who was too close to the woman he loved for his liking._

_Without thinking he pulled the trigger of his shotgun and blew the infected's head off. His wife jumped slightly and quickly looked over her shoulder back at him. He gave her a weak smile, which she returned, before both of them resumed shooting._

_He immediately tensed up as he heard a screech near by, that send an unpleasant shiver down his spine._

“ _A hunter. Don't know where”, whispered the brown haired man in a hushed tone to the ginger haired woman beside him, while he looked franticly around. A hunter was bad news._

“ _I think it's still outside... or downstairs”, replied his wife also in a hushed tone – even though her voice was slightly quivering. She grabbed her gun even tighter as she shot another common and briefly looked around – hoping to spot the hunter before it would be too late._

_They shot some more commons, before the brown haired man saw something out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head, only to see a really huge hunter, who was crouching down at the bottom of the staircase and was preparing for a jump._

_He hurriedly pointed his shotgun at the hunter and pulled the trigger the exact same moment as the hunter leaped towards them, so that the bullet hit the floor where the hunter had been just some seconds ago._

_He cursed under his breath about this, before he realized that the damn hunter was targeting his wife. Without thinking he pushed the ginger haired woman to the side and brought himself in the flight path of the hunter's attack._

_He cried out in pain as the hunter's sharp, filthy teeth pierced his right forearm, which he had lifted to protect himself just merely a second before the impact. The force with which the giant of a hunter pounced on him, sent both of them crashing to the floor. While he lied on his back on the floor, the hunter in the dark green hoodie was towering over him – still biting down on his right arm. One of his hands was pressed down on the brown haired man's chest, while the other hand was positioned beside the human's head – in order to support his own weight._

_At first he acted upon the primal instinct of survival as he started to struggle blindly – only to hiss out of pain as the hunter's teeth only sank deeper into his arm and the claws of the hand, which was resting on his chest, pierced lightly his flesh – before he finally remembered his shotgun again. Only to realize some seconds later that he didn't have it. He must have dropped it during the collision._

_He turned his head only to confirm his suspicion as he spotted the shotgun on the floor. He reached for the weapon with his good arm, but had to give up very soon after. That damn thing was just barely out of his reach._

_He quickly looked up again as he heard some sort of cackling above him. Was the frigging hunter laughing at him? He bet that his eyes – if he would still have eyes and not just two empty eye sockets – would have sparkled out of sick amusement._

_But before he could have thought about that any longer, the giant of a hunter suddenly lifted his one hand from the floor and slapped the appendage forcibly right into his face, only to press down hard afterward._

_A choked cry of pain left the brown haired man's lips as he heard a horrible cracking sound from his nose – which was now broken thanks to the hunter's blow. And the continued pressure on his already broken nose didn't help any with the pain._

“ _Let go of him!” The sudden, desperate sounding voice reminded the young man that his wife was still here and that he wasn't truly alone with that hunter._

_The words were barely spoken as gun shots could be heard. The bullets must have hit their target because the big hunter abruptly released his right arm from his teeth with a loud, pained yelp, before he also lifted his hand from his prey's face and looked in the direction of his wife with a furious snarl._

_The brown haired man was too dazed from the pain to register right away what happened next._

_He could just stare in confusion at the empty space above him, where the hunter had been just some seconds before. He blinked several times, before an ear splitting screech, followed by a pained scream woke him from his temporary state of trance._

_Without any hesitation left he sat up and hurriedly spun around, only to witness how the hunter's teeth bit down on his wife's throat and how his claws slashed at her chest and stomach. It seemed like the hunter in the dark green hoodie was done with playing. He was going for the kill._

_His eyes widened out of shock, before he lunged at the hunter – in a weak attempt to throw the thing off the ginger haired woman. In his panic he totally forgot about his shotgun._

_He put his arms around the hunter's neck, before he squeezed and pulled with all his might – even though his injured right arm didn't take these actions too kindly and made the task even harder._

“ _Let go! Get the fuck away from her!”, he screamed loudly while he pulled desperately at the hunter, before he started to kick the infected for extra measures. But the result of his efforts were the same as when he would have tried to move a brick wall._

_At some point the hunter got annoyed with him, so that he let go of his wife for a short moment, only to bat him aside like an annoying fly with a strong swipe of his arm. The young man tumbled ungracefully to the floor just on the edge of the staircase that led down to the first floor._

_As he lifted his head he could see how the hunter bared his teeth at him with an angry growl, before the thing whipped around again and continued to maul his wife._

“ _No!” His desperate cry was easily drowned out by his wife's pained screams. He could just watch in horror how the hunter's claws ripped the young woman's chest open and how the blood splattered not only on the floor but also on her attacker._

_The last look which his wife sent him, before her eyes dulled and the spark of life in them disappeared, nearly broke his heart. Her eyes had been so full of pain, but underneath that he had seen her love for him and the silent plea to survive for their daughter's sake._

_A loud sob left his lips as he tried to bear down the tears, that threatened to spill any moment._

_His love was dead – gone forever. She was killed by the damn hunter. The hunter who was now kneeling over his wife's dead body and was shamelessly wolfing down her still fresh and bloody flesh._

_Beside the feeling that he had to vomit any moment now, an uncontrollable rage bubbled up in him. How dare he! How could he?!_

_But before he could have acted upon his rage something was suddenly tightly wrapped around his ankle. He cried out in surprise and slight panic as that something pulled on his leg and sent him flying down the stairs._

_The fall down the stairs was painful and rough, so that the young man could have bet that there was no part of his body anymore that wasn't bruised._

_He wasn't granted any rest as he finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs as the thing promptly dragged him over the floor and out of the still open door of the run-down looking house._

_A quick look towards his leg was enough to sent him into another panic attack. A disgusting tongue was wrapped around his ankle, which meant only one thing. He was screwed._

_Without thinking the young man clung to the door frame of the run-down looking house, just before it was out of his reach. He could barely hold on to the wooden door frame, that already creaked dangerously under the continuing pressure of pulling on it._

“ _Fuck!”, he swore loudly as he spotted some of the commons stumbling towards him. It seemed like they noticed him and saw him as an easy meal. One of them was so eager to devour his flesh that it stumbled over its own feet and tumbled down the stairs in a heap. The brown haired man probably would have laughed about that, if he hadn't been in such a precarious situation right now._

_They came nearer and nearer and there was nothing he could do about it. Not only did he loose his wife, now he would die too and only their daughter would be still alive. But he couldn't leave Chiara alone! The little girl wouldn't survive on her own in such a cruel world._

_He couldn't die. He mustn't die! He still had to care for his daughter. It was his wife's last wish. And besides that was Chiara all he had left in this world._

_He was pulled out of his thoughts as a cold hand suddenly grabbed one of his arms and weakly pulled on it._

“ _Let the fuck go of me!”, screamed the young man angrily, before he ripped his arm out of the infected's grip. But he noticed too late that this was a mistake on his part. By freeing his arm he accidently let go of the door frame, so that he was instantly dragged out further on the street._

_He franticly looked around him, hoping to spot anything that could help him. But there was no such luck._

_A choked cry left his lips as a sudden hard pull sent him flying through the air again – even though it was a short journey as a wall of a building stopped his flight painfully, so that he was now pulled up along the side of the building rather than being dragged over the street. The young man grimaced with pain while he was stunned from the intense pain for a moment._

_How the hell was he supposed to survive this? He didn't have a weapon or anything else to protect himself. But he couldn't just die here. He had to live for his daughter!_

_His unasked question got answered as a sudden outraged screech sounded near by. He quickly turned his head in order look in the direction from where the sound had come from, only to spot the big hunter in the dark green hoodie crouching down at the entrance of the run-down looking house. The hunter looked really pissed off – even from up here. The brown haired man was sure that the bastard was just so angry because the smoker was stealing his prey right now. One could have thought that it was enough for the damn hunter to only maul his wife and eat her whole. But no, he wanted seconds, he wanted more, he wanted him._

_The young man wasn't too sure if he should be relieved or angry about that. On one hand that would maybe save him from getting killed by the smoker but on the other hand was that damn hunter at fault for his love's gruesome death and would probably be the cause of his own death later on too._

_How he hated these damn infected._

_The big hunter leaped on the rooftop, where the smoker currently was on, with another outraged screech, before the tongue around his leg suddenly loosened its grip._

_The brown haired man screamed out of shock as he was suddenly falling head first to the ground below. But against all his expectations did the landing not end in his death. Rather than landing on a hard ground, he landed on something surprisingly soft – even though the landing hurt like a bitch regardless._

_Groaning he slowly sat up, only to realize some seconds later that he was resting on a group of moaning commons. He hadn't realized up til now that these damn things had gathered below there where he had been hanging from the smokers tongue._

_He couldn't help himself but to laugh out loud in a humorless fashion about that. It seemed like the frigging infected had been good for something for one time at least. They unwillingly saved his life by acting as his cushion to land on._

_Growling noises from above him reminded him again that he didn't have the time to hang around. He swiftly stood up – even though his whole body hurt like hell – and hurriedly stumbled back towards the run-down looking house._

_But to his displeasure did some commons block his way. They were gathered around the entrance of the run-down looking house. He couldn't get into that house without attracting their attention. He would end up dead and would probably lead them to his daughter._

_Gritting his teeth painfully he made a turn and instead stumbled past them and along the street. He briefly looked over his shoulder whereupon he could see that the commons had spotted him and were now following him. Good. In that case there would be fewer infected to find his daughter in that house._

_An anew screech brought the young man to start running for his life. Even though he stumbled now and then he managed to stay on his feet and to keep running. He had to find a place to hide. There he could wait until the dust had settled. Then he could come back and get his daughter._

_Looking once again briefly over his shoulder he made a turn around a corner into an alleyway, hoping that it wouldn't be a dead end. Fortunately he spotted a door ajar on the end of the alleyway._

_He quickly ran up to it, grabbed the doorknob, swung the door further open, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him again. He just hoped that no one saw him going in here._

_His small hope was promptly destroyed as he heard a loud growl and some moans just outside the door he was currently leaning against with his back._

“ _Shit!”, he swore quietly as suddenly a heavy force collided with the wooden door in an attempt to open or destroy it. Gritting his teeth he pressed his back tighter against the door in order to keep the infected out for now. Another collision with the door sent the young man nearly falling to the floor as the door gave a violent jerk._

_Cursing under his breath again he hurriedly looked around the room. He nearly oversaw it, but there was a staircase that led down to the basement of the building. With any luck that building could have a transformer and so it would have a steel door too. Transformers usually were kept in a small room with a steel door. And it was impossible for any infected to destroy such a door – except for a damn tank, but he doubted that one would come crashing through the wall right now or in the near future._

_He took a deep breath, before he dived for the staircase and rushed down the stairs. He barely started his descent as he could hear the loud bang of the door, which probably was swung open that forcibly that it banged against the wall beside the door frame. But he didn't have the time or the mind now to think about that._

_He nearly cried out of joy as he really spotted a steel door as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. He quickly ran up to it, pulled the door open, hurried inside, closed the door behind him again and locked it._

_He jumped violently as a sudden bang sounded from the steel door, before he reminded himself again that the infected could bang against it as much as they wanted but they would never get in._

“ _Shit... I did it. I fucking did it!” While laughing quietly to himself he ran his fingers through his hair, before he slumped weakly to the floor and leaned heavily against the transformer in the small room. By the looks of it the transformer didn't work anymore._

_Now that the adrenalin was wearing off the pain came back full force. The young man hissed out of pain as every slight movement reminded him of the pain. Everything hurt and he was tired like hell. He still couldn't believe it yet that he survived that – even though his wife didn't._

“ _I'm sorry... so sorry.” He choked this words out to no one in the room as a loud sob left his lips and he couldn't hold the tears back any longer._

“ _To hell with it all!” Frustrated about the whole situation he slammed his fist against the transformer, before he slumped against it further and pressed his face against the cold metal. He couldn't stop the tremors which shook his body as choked sobs left his lips and the tears ran over his cheeks._

_He couldn't save his beloved wife and he couldn't even take revenge for her death. Her gruesome death. The memory was still fresh, so that it was nearly impossible for him to get these pictures out of his head – there had been so much blood. He had seen her frigging guts exposed. It wasn't even the worst that he had to watch how that damn hunter ate his wife. The worst had been her eyes. Her beautiful green eyes that had been so full of pain, that had been looking directly at him. They had burned themselves into his soul. She had been looking directly at him as she died._

“ _So sorry...fucking sorry”, he breathed while he squeezed his eyes tightly shut._

_He stayed in this position – crying violently – for some time, before the tears finally ran dry and he calmed down somewhat again._

_He couldn't do anything to change that now. Instead he had a task left. He had to care for his, no, their daughter. Wiping his last tears away he turned his head slowly in the direction of the steel door. But he couldn't go right now. He could still hear the hunter's frustrated growls on the other side of the door._

_When was he giving up already?_

_The brown haired man sighed deeply, before something else catched his attention. He didn't really notice it up til now, but his right forearm was itching like a bitch. He quickly looked at the appendage, only to stare at the bite mark there. Right, that frigging hunter bit him before._

_Did that mean he was turning? He had no fucking clue if he was immune or not. But was it supposed to itch like that – besides the fact that it still hurt like the rest of his body._

_He also was getting more tired by the minute, so that it got harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He supposed a little nap wouldn't be too bad. The damn hunter wouldn't go anywhere any time soon anyway._

“ _Stay save, honey. I will come and get you very soon. I promise...”, he whispered tiredly, even though Chiara wasn't around to hear it. With a last look at the steel door his eyelids drooped fully and he quickly fell asleep._

_When he woke up again the first thing that he noticed was unbearable heat. He felt so frigging hot, like he was stuck in a stove._

_He groggily opened his eyes but what he could see at first were just blurry shapes. He blinked a couple of times, before he rubbed his eyes furiously and shook his head slightly for extra measures. As he opened his eyes again his sight was at least a little bit better than before._

_He sat there for some long seconds, before he remembered Chiara again, so that he propped himself up with a loud groan. Surprisingly his body did hurt a lot less than before._

_He stumbled to the still locked steel door, so he could press one of his ears against the metal – the cold metal that did wonders to his overheating body. He nearly lost his focus on the actual task, before he got a grip of himself again and started to listen for any sounds._

_He couldn't hear anything suspicious. It seemed like that damn hunter was finally gone._

_He quickly unlocked the door and opened the steel door slowly. Some commons were still lingering around in the basement – even though it seemed like they hadn't noticed him yet. He should better keep it that way then. With any luck he could sneak past them. He doubted that he could fight them in his state._

_Taking a deep breath he made his way towards the staircase as quietly as possible. But unfortunately he saw the bucket in his path too late, so that he stumbled over that thing and tumbled loudly to the floor._

“ _Fuck”, he swore under his breath as he looked slowly over to the commons, fearing the worst to come. But the commons were just staring at him, before some of them lost interest in him and turned away from him again._

_Strange. Why didn't they attack him? He pondered on that for some seconds longer, before he shook his head and reminded himself that he had something more important to do. He could think about that later._

_He stood up again and walked towards the staircase again – even though he didn't care if he made some noise or not. It seemed like the commons ignored him anyway, no matter what he did or how loud he was._

_After he had climbed the stairs, he swiftly left the building through the wooden door, which had seen some better days._

“ _Shit... How long was I out? It's fucking dark!” He asked his question out loud as he could just stare at the dark sky in disbelieve. He was sure that it was daytime the last time he was awake. He just hoped that Chiara was alright._

_In order to not loose any more precious time he quickly started to move again. He ran out of the alleyway, but as he made a turn around the corner he had to pause for a moment. He leaned heavily against the wall of the building as he got dizzy and the world started to spin wildly around him._

“ _Fuck, not now”, he mumbled to himself as he gritted his teeth and forced himself to go onwards, while he supported his weight with the help of the wall beside him with one hand. Nothing would hinder him from getting to his daughter._

_It was a long and tiring way back to the run-down looking house, but he made it back nonetheless. He went up the stairs as quickly as he could while he held tight to the railing. As he arrived at the first floor he looked briefly around – even though his vision was still not perfect. There was so much blood – on the floor, some on the walls of the narrow hallway – but there was no corpse of his wife. Did that frigging hunter really ate her whole? Everything of her?_

_Biting his bottom lip hard in order to bear down the tears, he hurriedly made his way to the room with the closet, where he had left Chiara._

“ _Honey, daddy is here... daddy...”, he trailed off, as he saw the open, empty closet. No, that couldn't be!_

“ _Honey! Chiara!”, he screamed helplessly while he fell on his knees right in front of the closet. He desperately rifled through the remaining contents of the closet, but no matter how hard he searched he couldn't find his little girl in there._

_She was gone._

_But where the hell was she?!_

_An outraged as well as desperate sounding cry left his lips, before he buried his face into a cloth that he had still clutched tightly in his hands. He paused as he took a deep intake of air, to catch his breath again after that scream._

_The cloth smelled like his daughter – even though he had no fucking clue how he could know something like that. Hell, he didn't know how he could even smell that. He wasn't a freaking dog, which the police often used to track the bad guy’s drugs down through their scent._

_Shaking his head slightly he clutched the cloth tighter, while he slowly stood up again and looked around the room. There was a corpse of a common near the bed. He bet that thing didn't kill itself like that. Not the way it was slashed open, just like a hunter would do it. Frigging hunters – killing his wife and now his daughter was gone. He didn't even know if she was still alive._

_But she had to! Chiara couldn't be dead, she mustn't!_

_He grit his teeth anew while he hurried out of the room, down the stairs and out the house._

“ _Fucking shit!”, he hissed painfully the moment he stepped out on the street. He quickly squeezed his eyes tightly shut and lifted his hand to protect his eyes from the light of the first sunbeams of dawn. The sun fucking hurt his eyes! It was like the light was burning them._

_He carefully opened his eyes, whereupon he squinted his eyes right afterwards again, so that he held them just a crack wide open. He needed some protection for his eyes or he was sure that he would claw them out any time soon. They burnt that badly._

_He looked around him but he couldn't see one single shop, where he could find sunglasses or something else of the sort._

“ _Damn it...” While biting his bottom lip, he looked once again around him, before he started to walk down the street. There had to be a shop somewhere. And he had to find one fast or else he didn't know what he would do next._

_He felt like shit. He felt unbearable hot, he was still dizzy, his whole body felt kind of sore and now his eyes burned and hurt like a bitch because of some frigging light! That had to be the worst day of his life._

_He didn't know how much time had passed since he walked the streets aimlessly and half blind. He just knew that the sun has risen further and that he needed something for his eyes right now._

_Just like someone heard his thoughts, he suddenly stumbled over something and tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Swearing under his breath he sat up slowly, only to sent a glare towards the thing that caused his fall afterwards._

“ _Son of a bitch...”, he mumbled grumpily as he regarded the already rotting corpse of a man, that was lying in the middle of the street and had been the cause of his fall. The brown haired man paused as he spotted a baseball cap lying besides the corpse's head. It had a camouflage design in dark gray shades. That article of clothing was at least better than nothing._

_He swiftly grabbed the baseball cap and put it on his head, before he pulled it deep into his face._

“ _Thanks, pal.” He grinned halfheartedly as he petted the dead man's shoulder awkwardly, before he looked around him once again. Some meters away stood a car with an open driver's door. It seemed like that car had been the dead man's car._

_Maybe he could find something useful in there. With a groan he stood up again and slowly walked over to the car, which windows were shattered. Not thinking about the pieces of broken glass on the ground the young man carelessly stepped on them, only to hiss out of pain right afterwards._

“ _Fuck!”, he swore loudly as he stepped away from the car and sat down on the ground, so he could examine his feet._

_His shoes were worn off and they weren't in their best condition anymore – and that was showing now. One piece of broken glass had pierced the sole of his shoe and was now stuck in his foot._

“ _Fucking great!”, he hissed sarcastically, before he grabbed the broken piece of glass and carefully pulled on it. He swore anew as the piece broke off, so that he had to remove his shoe, which he threw carelessly to the side. It wasn't long until his sock followed the example of his shoe. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the rest of the broken piece of glass and yanked it out with one go._

_He guessed he could forget his shoe now. Angry about it all he also removed his second shoe and sock and threw them also from him with more force than would have been necessary._

“ _Damn it!” A choked sob left his lips as he pulled the cloth, that smelled like his daughter, from his trouser pocket and pressed his face into the soft material. How was he supposed to find her?_

_But before he could have thought about that any longer he suddenly felt immense pain that brought him to tumble to the floor in a heap._

_He couldn't help the raw scream that erupted from him as his whole body felt like it was on fire from the pain. What was going on now?!_

_He writhed on the ground while he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and just wished for it to be over. He couldn't hold back another scream as something cracked in his body and it seemed like something was moving inside of him. His fingertips, his whole mouth, his legs – just everything, really – hurt like hell._

_At some point he thankfully blacked out from all the unbearable pain and he knew no more._

_With a loud groan he opened his eyes slowly, only to stare directly into the sun. He immediately shrieked out of pain, before he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and hurriedly rolled onto his stomach, so that he would face the ground rather than the evil sun, that hurt his fucking eyes._

_On impulse he lifted his hands to his face, determined to claw his own eyes out in oder to end the pain, as something stopped him from doing just that. His face was pressed against something surprisingly soft, what also smelled really good and familiar. He barely got a good whiff of the scent, as a picture of a grinning child flashed before his inner eyes. It was a little girl with ginger hair and grey-blue eyes._

_Who was she? Was she prey? No, that didn't sound right in his head. He sniffed the cloth again. It smelled so familiar. He pondered on it for some seconds longer, before it struck him like a thunderbolt. His pup! That's right. That girl was his pup! She was his beloved pup!_

_He carefully opened his eyes again, so he could stare at the cloth that smelled like his pup. But where was his pup? Was she dead? No, she couldn't be dead, or could she?_

_He guessed there was just one way to find out. He had to track her down by her scent and see for himself. Determined what to do next he grabbed the cloth and slowly stood up on his two legs._

_It felt strange to stand on two legs, so that he quickly fell back on all his fours. That felt a lot more natural._

_He briefly looked around him. The damn sun still hurt his eyes, but this time he oppressed the urge to claw his own eyes out. He still needed his eyes in order to see his pup with his own eyes. He wanted to see her in real and not just in some memories._

_Where to start? He intended to ask that question out loud but all his lips left were some growling noises. Fucking great, now he couldn't even talk anymore! Wait... since when had he even been able to talk?_

_He snarled out of frustration as his own thoughts just got him confused more than anything. He should just look for his pup and shouldn't think about anything else during that time. He could figure all of that out later on._


	10. Emotional pain

He couldn't sleep. And one of the reasons why he couldn't was lying right next to him.

Shark grumbled quietly while he regarded the sleeping hunter, who was still holding his little girl in his arms. He could just snatch his pup away from the bigger hunter and kill him in the process – now that he was asleep and vulnerable – but then he would wake up Chiara, who would be really upset about a certain dead hunter.

The small hunter didn't understand why that hunter was so important to his pup. The little girl didn't even know him! Or did she? But from where would she know him?

One thing was for sure. The hunter in the dark brown shirt couldn't be a hunter for too long. He was too clumsy and too weak for their kind and besides that he wasn't even wearing a protection against the light, like all the other hunters did, including himself.

If the bigger hunter would really stay with them then they had to change that. Shark didn't need another pup he had to look out for – and the other hunter was just that for him at the moment, an unskillful hunter, who reminded him more of a still learning pup rather than a full-grown, dangerous hunter.

Shark scowled and growled quietly to himself as he looked over his shoulder at the broken window that led to the balcony. And there was the second reason why he couldn't sleep.

Their den wasn't safe anymore. It was a risk to sleep in their nest while a gaping hole was right next to it, through that everyone could enter without any hindrance.

They had to find a new den, where they were safe and where it was comfortable to rest.

A barely audible whimper pulled him out of his thoughts, so that he looked back at his pup and the bigger hunter. His little girl was still sleeping peacefully but the hunter in the brown shirt was grimacing slightly in his sleep and seemed to get a little bit agitated. Either he had a nightmare or his wounds pained him even in his sleep. Or maybe both things applied.

Shark couldn't care less about that, but he was afraid that the bigger hunter would wake Chiara up with his motions and the quiet sounds that he uttered in his sleep.

The small hunter growled out of annoyance as he looked the other one over, whereupon the bigger hunter's wounded shoulder catched his attention. Besides the many cuts was the wound at his shoulder – which Shark himself had inflicted upon the bigger hunter – the worst and had to hurt the most.

Shark hesitated for a moment, before he leaned over and started to lick the wound at the shoulder clean. He knew out of his own experiences that this would lessen the pain somewhat and would help by the healing process.

Besides the blood he also tasted the fabric of the shirt, what had a weird taste to it.

He quickly grabbed the other hunter's arms in order to hold him still, as the other one started to squirm under his ministration. The small hunter stopped with what he was doing and looked slowly up, only to see how the bigger hunter's eyes fluttered open, who seemed to be confused at first.

As the hunter in the brown shirt realized what was going on, he bared his teeth at the smaller one and started to growl. The hunter in the dark red hoodie acted quickly and swiftly pressed one of his hands over the other hunter's mouth in order to silence him.

Shark bared his own bloody teeth at the other hunter, before he inclined his head in the direction of Chiara, whereupon the bigger hunter seemed to understand and quit his growling.

Satisfied that the other one would keep quiet, Shark grabbed the bigger one and turned him on his back, so that the little girl was now resting on the hunter's stomach, who was still holding her gently in his arms. In that position he could reach the wound at the shoulder better.

Shark gave the bigger hunter a last warning glare, before he knelt over the other one and bent down to resume his task of licking the wound clean.

Halfway through he faltered as he noticed something about the other one's scent. He hadn't really realized it before but now that he was so close to the bigger hunter he could smell it better.

In a weird kind of way the hunter in the brown shirt smelled a lot like Chiara. Sure, there was the smell of dirt, blood and death that clung to his person – which one could smell everywhere he went – but underneath all that was a scent very similar to Chiara's own scent.

While furrowing his brow, Shark started to smell the other one. At first he smelled his stomach, then his chest, only to end up pressing his nose into the curve of the brown haired hunter's neck, who squirmed uncomfortably and growled quietly out of displeasure about that – even though he didn't dare to do much more, afraid he could wake his daughter up.

Shark just didn't get it. Usually someone smelled like someone else if they were related in some way. Only then they would share a really familiar scent.

But this couldn't be. He was a hunter and his little girl was not, she was a survivor. So how could they be related?

The small hunter growled out of frustration as he slowly pulled back from the other hunter, before he looked between the hunter and Chiara back and forth.

It would explain why his pup was so attached to the bigger hunter.

Now that he was looking for the similarities between the two he noticed that the little girl had the brown haired hunter's eyes – they nearly were even the same colour – and she got her nose from him. This coupled with their similar scent could only mean one thing. They were related. Probably father and pup.

But even though Shark wouldn't give Chiara away again. She was his pup now, no matter if that hunter really was her real father or not. The bigger hunter hadn't been there for her but he had been! The other one wouldn't take his pup away from him.

Shark bared his teeth angrily and snarled softly out of defiance, as he reached for his little girl. He barely touched her as the bigger hunter growled loudly and batted his hand away, while he pulled the little girl closer against his chest and sat up slowly.

Shark wasn't amused about that – rather the opposite.

Chiara was his, she belonged to him – and only him!

Not thinking straight for a moment Shark quickly grabbed the little girl and wrested her away from him, before he launched himself at the bigger one, so that the both of them fell off the bed and on the floor. The little girl luckily landed safely on the pillows of the nest.

Shark snarled loudly as he propped himself up again on all fours and immediately lashed out at the other hunter, who reacted promptly and swiftly dodged the smaller one's attack, whereupon he yelped out of pain as his left arm couldn't hold his weight because of his wounded shoulder. The brown haired hunter's arm buckled and he tumbled to the floor in a heap, while he let a pathetic whimper slip from his lips.

Seeing his opportunity Shark quickly pounced on the other one and pinned him down on the floor. With a loud growl he grabbed the bigger hunter's head, that he had lifted to glare at the smaller one and that was missing a baseball cap on top of it, and slammed the appendage back on the floor, whereupon a loud thud could be heard.

The brown haired hunter whined and hissed out of pain and slight distress, as he started to struggle weakly – in the hopeless attempt to throw the hunter in the dark red hoodie off of him.

The small hunter just snorted about that, before he raised one of his claw-like hands to deal the final strike.

“STOP!”, the sudden loud and piercing scream brought Shark to freeze on the spot – his claws just some inches away from the other hunter's throat – before he slowly turned his head towards the nest, where he could spot his pup, who seemed to be awake by now. She probably woke up as he wrested her away from the bigger hunter and carelessly threw her back in the nest.

“Stop that! What do you think you're doing?!” Shark flinched slightly as the too high-pitched words hurt his ears a bit. His little girl didn't look happy in the slightest. If he wasn't wrong then she was rather really angry with him – even though he could also smell her panic and disbelieve that she must be feeling at the moment.

The hunter in the brown shirt used his temporary distraction promptly to his advantage and shoved the smaller hunter roughly off of him. The bigger hunter growled angrily as he bared his teeth at Shark and slowly sat up in order to take the pressure off of his shoulder, on which he had lain on.

“Never... Never do this again! That was bad Shark! Why did you even... That's my daddy!”, the little girl exclaimed loudly as her small body and especially her lower lip started to tremble slightly.

Shark whined lowly as he saw how his pup's eyes got glassy all of the sudden, before the tears were spilling out of her puffy eyes. He couldn't help himself but to feel regret about what he just had intended to do. He didn't want to make his little girl upset. He just wanted her all for him alone, so that he wouldn't loose her. He couldn't bear it to loose another pup.

A louder whine left his lips as he reached for his little girl, who was now sobbing loudly and staring at him with a hurt look. But before he could have even touched her the other hunter beat him to it.

The bigger hunter gently wrapped his arms around his little girl and picked her up, before he started to purr loudly. Shark had to oppress the instinctual reaction to flinch out of guilt as the other hunter glared accusingly at him, while he gently petted the little girl's back and ran his other hand soothingly through her hair, before he also started to rock her.

To look at the sight of the two together alone hurt the small hunter, who gritted his teeth out of slight anger – even though he could also feel the growing distress what made him even more angry. But what hurt the most was the fact that his little girl really calmed down and snuggled up to the bigger hunter. That was just pure cruelty to watch and just like a direct blow to his face.

The little girl didn't calm down that quickly when he tried to calm her down before.

She looked so at peace while she rested comfortably in the brown haired hunter's arms – like she didn't need anything else in the world but her father. Her real father. But that would also mean that she didn't need the hunter in the dark red hoodie anymore.

Before Shark knew it a loud distressed hiss coupled with a whine left his lips. He couldn't stand here any longer and watch that.

Without another thought the small hunter was up and out of the door of the bedroom. He barely heard a soft voice calling his name as he screeched loudly and leaped out of the glassless window in the living room.

How dare that hunter to snatch his pup away! Damn it! Chiara was his! She belonged to him and to no one else!

Shark snarled loudly as the emotional pain turned into white hot anger. He would have loved to go back and tear that damn hunter apart, but then his little girl would be upset again and he didn't want that either.

It was hopeless! If he killed that hunter he would loose his pup and if he didn't he would loose his pup anyway.

Shark growled out of anger and hopeless frustration, before he spotted a group of stupid ones, who were stumbling dumbly through the street below.

Perfect!

With a loud screech the small hunter jumped from the roof he currently was on and pounced on the unsuspecting commons below. He landed on some guy whose head cracked upon the forceful encounter with the hard ground, so that his brain and blackish blood splattered on the ground all around him.

But the small hunter didn't stop there. He shrieked loudly as he attacked the rest of them. The hunter in the dark red hoodie slashed wildly at them – his claws tearing their fragile bodies apart and spilling their guts. He didn't stop til nothing was left of them. Panting slightly he looked around him with a scowl. He stood in a pool of blood and organs.

Thanks to the stupid ones he calmed down somewhat – even though now that most of his anger was gone the despair and the pain came back full force. He hissed out of distress before he whined loudly and just curled up into a pathetic ball on the spot, so that his clothes got soaked with the blood he was carelessly lying in.

Shark didn't know how long he was lying there as something wet landed on him and pulled him out of his dark, miserable thoughts. Curiously he lifted his head slightly in order to look up. A raindrop fell on his nose, that was shortly joined by another one. The small hunter blinked a couple of times, before he looked further up into the sky, whereupon he saw a lot of dark clouds, which blocked most of the sunlight of the sun, that had shone so brightly before that day.

He wasn't such a big fan of water, so that he couldn't help himself but to disdain the rain too.

He swiftly sprung up on all his fours and jumped on the next best rooftop of a nearby building. There he faltered as he looked uncertainly around him. Where should he go in order to hide from the rain?

He couldn't go back to his pup and the other hunter just like that, or could he? He wanted to, but he was afraid that he would attack the bigger hunter again at first sight. He needed some more time alone. He didn't even want to think about the possibility that his little girl didn't want him around anymore.

Making up his mind Shark swiftly leaped to another rooftop and then to another one. By the time he reached his destination he was soaking wet – he hadn't anticipated that the rain would get that worse so fast.

Without another thought he darted through the door into the run-down looking house and from there he hurried up the stairs. He swiftly crawled into one of the rooms, where he stopped in front of an open closet. That was the place where he found Chiara.

Shark smiled bitterly as he bent down and pressed his face into the remaining contents of the closet. It was really faint, barely noticable, but he could still detect a fleeting scent of his little girl on them. He whined miserably while he crawled into the closet in order to lie down in the cramped space and to press his face further into the cloths.

At some point – after resting there for a while – he finally fell asleep.

_It was a dark place he was in – even though he wasn't even sure where here was. He couldn't make anything out in this darkness._

_Growling uneasily to himself, he slowly started to move along, hoping to find something – anything – in this ever lasting darkness. He crawled on and on but nothing changed. The persistent darkness, that threatened to suffocate him, didn't vanish._

_What was this place?_

_A sudden, barely audible noise brought him to stop in all his movements. He strained his ears and listened closely. There, there it was again!_

_The small hunter furrowed his brow as he cocked his head. What was that sound? It sounded like a drippy water cock – even though he had no idea what that exactly was. The fitting comparison just came to his mind._

_He slowly turned his head only to see a red drop falling down from a bloody hand and landing on the ground not far away from him. More blood was dripping from the clawed hand, so that a puddle of blood was forming at the stranger's feet._

_A quiet whimper catched the small hunter's attention, so that he quickly looked in the direction from where the sound came from. His remaining eye winded as he spotted a small and bloody creature that was lying in a pool of blood not far away from the stranger. The little thing wore a blue hoodie and black pants, which were terrible torn and gave view to the gashes underneath that were bleeding nonstop._

_No! That couldn't be! Not his pup. No, his pup couldn't be dead!_

_Horrified he could just stare at the lifeless body of his little girl. A heartbroken whine, followed by a distressed hiss left his lips as he doubled over and desperately clawed his own chest, where his heart was hurting like nothing else._

_He stopped shortly what he was doing as the sound of footsteps reached his ears. Hesitantly he lifted his head, only to come face to face with a scary looking and grinning face. The stranger cackled darkly before he lifted his hand and plunged the appendage deep into the small hunter ' s chest, whereupon he wrapped his icy cold hands around his pained heart._

_A last sadistic sounding cackle reached his ears, before the crazy grinning stranger ripped his heart out._

Shark awoke with a gasp, whereupon only more darkness greeted him. For a moment the small hunter started to panic, before he realized that he was still lying in the closet and that it was just nighttime by now.

He clutched his own hoodie at his chest while he wheezed slightly and tried to calm down again.

It had been just a nightmare – even though he couldn't deny that the picture of his pup, lying in her own pool of blood, wasn't just an image his wild imagination came up with.

He didn't want to be reminded of that again.

A choked sob left his lips as he squeezed his one remaining eye tightly shut in order to prevent himself from crying. It was still painful to think of the death of his little girl. He never really got over her death, he never stopped mourning.

Until he had found his other little girl. Chiara... That little girl had made him forget – even though it had been just some days. He had been happy with Chiara. It had been like his pup was back. He had had a purpose again in his life.

And now that was taken from him again.

He couldn't take this a second time.

But... she wasn't dead. Chiara was still alive. He didn't loose her entirely. He still had a chance to win her back.

That was if she still wanted him too. She had her real father now with her, who didn't like Shark that much and who Shark didn't like that much in return.

Nevertheless, he couldn't give up now. He couldn't live on if he lost his pup a second time. He barely clung to life the first time around.

With that decided Shark hurriedly jumped out of the closet, rushed out of the room, down the stairs and out through the door onto the street. From there he leaped on a nearby rooftop and started the short journey back to their nest.

It was still raining, but to his luck it had lessened a bit.

It didn't take him too long to reach his destination. He quietly slipped through the window into the living room, before he sneaked over to the bedroom. He carefully stepped into the room only to spot his pup and the bigger hunter, who were both fast asleep.

He didn't want to wake his little girl up – even though he would have loved to pull her out of the other hunter's arms, in which the little girl was resting again.

Shark looked at the sight for a couple of minutes more, before he silently turned around and crawled back into the living room, where he jumped up on the couch and lay down with a deep, exhausting sigh. He still had a good view at the bedroom from the couch he was resting on.

Tomorrow he would start his quest to win his little girl over, during that he hopefully could prevent himself from hurting the bigger hunter. That wouldn't help him with his task of gaining Chiara's trust and love again.

With another sigh the small hunter closed his eye warily and tried to fall asleep again. Without any nightmares this time, hopefully.


	11. Shopping trip

The little girl was sleeping peacefully as something suddenly seemed to tickle her small nose. Grumbling quietly to herself she slowly opened her eyes, only to be greeted by the bright sunlight, that was shining directly in her face.

Chiara promptly shut her eyes again, which stung a little because of the sudden light, and turned around on her side – away from the offending light.

A quite noise from beside her brought the five year old to open her eyes again and to look up.

“Morning Daddy”, she mumbled sleepily with a big smile on her face, whereupon her daddy purred quietly in response and nuzzled her face with his nose. The little girl couldn't help herself but to giggle slightly about the gesture, before she remembered the happenings from the day before.

She immediately sat up and looked around the room, but no matter where and how hard she looked, she couldn't spot the small hunter in the dark red hoodie anywhere. It seemed that Shark wasn't back yet.

Chiara's face fell upon this realization and she sighed deeply. She still didn't understand why Shark had run away in the first place. The only thing she knew for certain was the fact that she wanted the small hunter back. He was a part of her family too now.

The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as her daddy mewled lowly in a questioning fashion and nudged her carefully in order to gain her attention.

“It's nothing. I'm good”, the little girl tried to assure her father while she gave him a sad looking smile – even though her daddy looked anything else but convinced.

A sudden growl form her stomach interrupted the silence that had started to linger in the bedroom. Chiara looked a little bit surprised at her stomach, before she laughed quietly and climbed from the bed.

“I guess it's breakfast time!”, exclaimed the five year old with a faked smile on her lips, in the attempt to lighten the mood – even though she wasn't fooling anyone, not even herself.

Sighing quietly again she slowly walked out of the bedroom, only to stop in her tracks as her eyes spotted a very familiar figure on the couch. She couldn't help the big smile that appeared nearly immediately on her face, as she motionlessly stared at the figure, before she snapped herself out of her slight daze.

“Shark! You're back!”, the little girl cried happily, while she flung herself at the small hunter and clung tightly to Shark, who in response promptly jerked awake and snarled warningly out of reflex, before he seemed to realize what exactly was hanging from his neck like it was a lifeline.

The small hunter blinked several times and cocked his head, as he stared confused at the five year old, who in return just tightened her arms around his neck.

“Where were you? Why did you run away? Don't do it again!”, Chiara demanded loudly, even though her voice came out muffled because her face was still pressed into Shark's dirty red hoodie.

The hunter whined lowly and slowly – like he was hesitant to touch her – raised his arms to wrap them carefully around her small body.

While Chiara just relished the warm body heat and the presence of the hunter in the dark red hoodie for a moment, she was missing the glaring contest between Shark and her daddy, who had followed her out of the bedroom and was now staring disapprovingly at the view before him. But even though the bigger hunter looked anything but pleased he wasn't doing a thing about it – just accepting it grimly it seemed.

The tense silence was once again interrupted by Chiara's angry growling stomach, who chuckled lightly and reluctantly let go of Shark's neck, so that the small hunter could put her down again.

But to her surprise that wasn't what the small hunter did next. Instead he climbed off the couch and crawled over to the backpack, while he still held her pressed up against his chest with one arm. As he arrived at the backpack he used his other free arm to pull a can full of some fruits out of it, before he finally put her down, opened the can with one of his claws and handed her the can over, so she could take it and eat from it.

“Thank you Shark.” With a happy smile on her face the little girl took the can from the hunter's hands and plunged her hand into the sticky stuff in the can, before she stuffed a handful in her mouth.

She briefly looked at her daddy as he snorted loudly, while he watched her eating. Chiara just shrugged carelessly and gave her father a big toothy grin, before she continued to eat the sticky fruits.

It wasn't long before the can was empty and her stomach decided to finally keep quiet. While the five year old licked her sticky fingers clean, she thoughtfully looked between the backpack, her daddy and Shark back and forth.

If she wasn't wrong then the meat that was left wouldn't suffice for the two hunters in the room. Just to be really sure she quickly searched through the contents of the backpack, only to come up with one can full of meat. She hadn't realized that she had taken so much cans full of fruits and so little cans of meat when they had been in the supermarket.

“That could be a problem...”, the five year old mumbled quietly to herself, before she looked up from the can in her hands and instead regarded the two hunters in the room.

She didn't know if her daddy had eaten anything since he was a hunter and she wasn't too sure when the last time was when Shark had eaten something – maybe two days ago or so?

“I guess you two have to share”, exclaimed Chiara suddenly out loud while she held the can up, so that both hunters had a good look at it.

At first neither of the two hunters made an attempt to grab the can, instead they were just staring at it. While her daddy looked somewhat thoughtful, Shark just seemed to be confused and unsure about the whole situation. It really would have been much easier when Shark could have understood her language like her daddy could. But it seemed like it couldn't be helped.

At last her daddy finally crawled closer to her and stretched his arm out in order to grab the can. Chiara couldn't help but notice that the motion didn't seem to hurt the big hunter. Did that mean that his shoulder – which gave him some troubles just the day before – had already healed?

The little girl cocked her head slightly as she tried to look closer at her daddy's shoulder. She wasn't a doctor by any means, but the wound, that was half covered by the fabric of the t-shirt her daddy was wearing, didn't look that good to her. It could have been looking somewhat better than the day before, but she wasn't too sure about that.

The five year old pondered about it some seconds longer, before she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a halfhearted sounding growl.

She quickly looked over at Shark whose mouth was forming a snarl, but was apparently trying to keep his growling to a minimum. Slowly she followed the small hunter's line of sight, only to see her daddy with the can full of meat in his hands.

Strange... Chiara would have guessed that Shark would react more violently and probably lunge himself at her daddy – like he had done the day before – rather than just to sit there while he stared and growled.

Was the small hunter holding himself back for her sake? It couldn't be, or could it?

The five year old was once again pulled out of her thoughts as her daddy opened the can with one of his claws and started to eat some of the meat, whereupon she could have sworn that she saw Shark clenching his fists out of the corner of her eyes. Should she be worried?

But it seemed like there was no reason for that, as her daddy suddenly stretched his arm out and held the now half-full can of meat in front of Shark's face, who seemed to be really surprised about the offer.

As the smaller hunter was still just staring at the food after some seconds, her daddy growled somewhat impatiently, before he shook the can a little in his hands.

Finally Shark reached up and took the can from the bigger hunter's hand, while his facial features changed from surprise to suspicion.

Chiara didn't quite understand why Shark was reacting and acting like that. There was no reason for any mistrust in her opinion. What was so suspicious about sharing food anyway?

At first the hunter in the dark red hoodie still seemed hesitant, before he eventually started to wolf the meat down like someone could take it away from him again.

Not til the can was completely empty did Shark stop. Chiara watched how the small hunter licked his lips and dropped the can carelessly to the ground, while a satisfied smile was shown on his face.

It seemed like the hunter in the dark red hoodie wasn't in a bad mood anymore. That fact brought the little girl to smile happily, before a hissing noise from her father attracted her attention.

She quickly turned her head, only to see her daddy holding one of his hands in front of his eyes, which he was squinting. The light of the morning sun was shining directly into his face through one of the windows.

“Where is your cap?”, the little girl asked immediately after she noticed that the baseball cap was missing on top of her daddy's head. The last time she checked he still had it on.

The hunter in the brown shirt looked at first at his daughter, before he turned his head in the direction of the bedroom and pointed at the doorframe of said room.

Before anyone could have said or done anything else, the little girl nodded swiftly and ran into the bedroom, where she spotted the article of clothing on the floor near the bed. She quickly picked it up, whereupon she paused and stared at it.

She supposed that it fell off while they had been sleeping or when Shark had tackled her father. Which one was the case wasn't really the issue though. Her daddy really needed something else beside the baseball cap to protect his eyes from the sun.

“Well... then I know what we will do today”, Chiara mumbled to herself, before she turned around and returned to the living room.

She stepped up to the two hunters and was about to give her father the baseball cap back, before she paused in her movements as she noticed Shark's intense stare.

“That's a cap!”, she exclaimed with a quiet laugh, whereupon the small hunter just cocked his head out of confusion.

“Cap”, she repeated the definition again, while she pointed at said article of clothing in her hands.

“Chhh..wwmm... Chaaw... Chap.” Amused about the more or less succesful attempts to say the word Chiara could just giggle about it, before she nodded slightly and gave the hunter an encouraging smile.

“Here, for you!” With these words the little girl turned to her father again and gave him the baseball cap back, that her daddy took, before he put it on his head and pulled the cap deep into his face.

“You need some other clothes!”, the little girl proclaimed matter of fact as she looked her father once more over, only to notice how the bigger hunter was still squinting his eyes a bit.

“So, we will go shopping!”, Chiara exclaimed, while she pointed meaningfully at the broken window in the living room to signal that she wanted to go now.

Her daddy nodded slightly with a quiet growl, as he reached for the little girl and picked her up from the floor. She promptly wrapped her thin arms around the hunter's neck, so that she had a good grip on him.

At first her daddy seemed a little bit hesitant to just jump out of the window like that. But after a quick glance to his daughter, who was giving him an encouraging smile, he finally leaped out of the window. The landing on a nearby rooftop was still a bit rough, since the hunter in the brown shirt could only use three of his four limbs.

Chiara noticed with glee that her father's shoulder really didn't seem to bother him anymore. At least she hadn't heard some noise of pain from him nor had she seen that he had grimaced out of pain.

The little girl turned her head as she heard a thump right next to them, only to come face to face with Shark, who was staring at her – or more precisely at her head – disapprovingly. The five year old immediately knew what the problem was, but before she could have done anything herself, the small hunter reached up, grabbed her hood and pulled the blue material over her head.

“Thanks”, she mumbled, amused about the hunter's fixation of her hood.

Because the five year old didn't know where they could find a clothes shop in this city, she decided to let her daddy handle the matter, who was silently looking around them. After some time the bigger hunter finally moved again. He swiftly leaped from one rooftop to another one, while he held Chiara in one arm.

Shark was following them closely, even though the little girl was pretty sure that the small hunter didn't really know what exactly was going on, if his displeased but still confused face was anything to go by.

The five year old looked up again as her father suddenly stopped in his tracks. She quickly spotted the reason for that below in the streets. A clothes shop! Hopefully they could find in there what they were looking for.

Her daddy jumped swiftly from the roof, so that he landed just some meters away from the entrance of the shop – closely followed by Shark.

The bigger hunter was about to crawl closer to the entrance of the building, as the smaller hunter stopped him shortly by grabbing his arm firmly. Her father cocked his head slightly and growled lowly, while he looked back at the other hunter, who was snarling furiously.

At first Chiara didn't understand what the problem was, until she noticed that the hunter in the dark red hoodie was sniffing the air.

Did that mean that some of the bad people were near?

The little girl couldn't help herself but to get nervous and a little bit scared about that possibility, so that she unconsciously tightened her grip around her father's neck. Her daddy immediately started to purr very quietly, in an attempt to calm her somewhat down, while he also started to smell the air.

But whatever Shark could smell, her father could not. The bigger hunter stopped with the task of sniffing, before he looked at the small hunter questioningly.

Shark was still looking around them and smelling the air and even though his snarling had decreased he was still growling uneasily.

Not until her daddy reached out and carefully touched the smaller hunter's shoulder, did Shark snap out of it. His growling stopped altogether, before he turned his head very slowly towards her and her father.

Before Chiara could have even asked what the matter was – even though Shark wouldn't have understood a word of it – the small hunter grabbed her father's arm again and practically dragged the two of them forcefully through the entrance into the clothes shop.

They barely stepped over the door sill, as Shark suddenly let go of her father's arm and instead leaped on top of one of the counters with the cash registers on top, behind that one of the bad people seemed to be stuck somehow. The man – he was wearing some kind of uniform that revealed that he had been working in this shop once – moaned and growled loudly, while he clawed for the new company he now had.

The small hunter swiftly struck out and slit the man's throat open with his claws, whereupon the already rotting throat couldn't hold the weight of the head on top of it any longer, so that the appendage slipped off and landed with a wet sounding thump on the floor.

Chiara cringed as she heard that terrible sound, while her father promptly grabbed her head gently and turned it away from the sight.

Had Shark been so alert before because of that man? The little girl honestly doubted that. The small hunter wouldn't have reacted so furiously outside of the shop if it really would have been because of that one common. So what else was out there that was making Shark so uneasy?

Not until the little girl felt a hand on top of her head did she look up again, only to look directly into Shark's face. The hunter tried to give her a reassuring smile, while he nodded slightly and pointed to the back of the room. She supposed that that meant that the shop was as safe as it could be.

“You can put me down, daddy”, she informed her father, who seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he slowly put her down on the floor.

With one last shaky smile directed at her father, the little girl turned around and walked over to all the clothes racks.

On the first one she could only find some T-shirts. No luck there.

Shirts, pants, skirts, scarfs, socks, underwear. Everything was there but not that special article of clothing she was looking for!

Chiara sighed loudly as she turned around again to inform her father about it.

Her daddy sat on his haunches just some meters away from her and was watching her with a kind smile on his face, while Shark was still at the entrance of the shop, where he paced up and down. It seemed like something was still making the small hunter agitated.

The five year old had already opened her mouth to speak, as she paused and instead looked over to another clothes rack, that was partly hidden behind some shelves. Wasn't that...?

She swiftly ran over to it to have a closer look, whereupon she saw that it wasn't exactly what she wanted. It wasn't a hoodie. It was a black sleeveless vest with a hood attached to it.

Well, she guessed that that had to do for now.

“Daddy! I found something!”, she called her father, who cocked his head a little, before he crawled over to her.

“Look, that vest over here.” Chiara pointed at said article of clothing, whereupon her father reached up and took the vest from the clothes rack.

Without any further instructions the bigger hunter slipped his arms through the armholes, before he grabbed the hood and pulled the black material over his head, on top that he was still wearing his baseball cap.

“Shouldn't you take the cap off?”, the little girl asked as she regarded her daddy's new appearance.

But her father just shook his head, while he crawled over to a mirror, that was standing in the shop for customers, to inspect himself. He was still wearing dark blue pants, a dark brown shirt and a baseball cap with a camouflage design in dark grey shades – on top of that was now resting the hood of the black sleeveless vest. It didn't look bad in Chiara's opinion.

“What do you think, Shark?”, the five year old asked loudly and pointed meaningfully at her daddy.

The small hunter perked up, as he heard his name, before he stopped his pacing and looked over to them. He slowly crawled closer to them, while he didn't take his one eye off of her father. He stopped next to the bigger hunter and reached out to grab the black vest, on that he pulled twice, before he let go again.

Chiara smiled as she saw the following nod and the toothy grin from Shark, who seemed to approve of her father's new article of clothing.

“Great! I guess we can go now”, the five year old exclaimed, not daring to look over to the cash registers, as she suddenly remembered the headless man again. Because of the hunt for clothes she totally forgot the corpse.

With a soft purr her father picked her up and held her in one of his arms, before he looked at Shark and pointed at the entrance of the shop. Together the two hunters crawled between the clothes racks towards the big glass door of the clothes shop.

But as they arrived, a sudden loud peeping noise sounded. An alarm! Chiara quickly realized that the alarm normally sounded when someone tried to steal something from the shop. Automatically her gaze wandered to her father's new vest.

That wasn't good! Why did that thing even still work? She thought that pretty much everything in this world didn't work anymore.

The little girl was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard a loud shriek coupled with a lot of moaning, groaning and growling.

Chiara froze out of terror as she spotted the herd of bad people, who were running along the streets towards the shop they were in like crazy. She unknowingly tightened her grasp around her father's neck and pressed herself closer to the hunter.

And what now? She didn't want to die yet!


	12. The chase

Shark cringed as the sudden loud peeping noise sounded and threatened to burst his eardrums. That sound hurt his ears! It was definitely too loud and too shrill!

Moaning, groaning and the sound of many footsteps pulled him out of his thoughts again, so that he quickly looked up only to spot a horde of stupid ones, who were coming for them.

That wasn't good.

The small hunter swiftly looked over his shoulder back into the room full of clothes, before he shook his head slightly and looked back out the street. As far as he could tell there wasn't a great escape route in this shop. They would be trapped, if they would stay in here. That glass door wouldn't hold long against so many stupid ones.

Shark huffed loudly as he grabbed one of the other hunter's arms and dragged him further towards the entrance. But the bigger hunter wouldn't have anything of that. He struggled against the smaller ones hold. He took Shark's hand in his own and tore it from his arm, while he shook his head firmly and growled uneasily.

The small hunter growled impatiently in return. They didn't have the time to argue! They had to go now if they didn't want to be eaten alive. Or more precisely if they didn't want Chiara to be harmed.

Shark doubted that the stupid ones could do anything against him but he wasn't so sure about the bigger hunter and less sure about the little girl in the other one's arms.

The hunter in the red hoodie tried again to pull the other hunter through the entrance, but again the bigger one refused to move.

Snarling loudly and baring his teeth angrily at the stubborn hunter Shark quickly reached out and snatched the five year old out of the other's arms, who squealed out of surprise and gave him a confused look. Before the bigger hunter could have reacted properly the small hunter leaped out of the entrance of the shop and into the streets with Chiara in one of his arms and securely pressed against his chest.

It wasn't like Shark prefered this method, but like he had predicted the little girl's father followed him immediately with an angry snarl on his lips. He had to suppress the triumphant grin about that, which was threatening to split his face in two halves.

When he noticed that the horde was nearly upon them and that the bigger hunter was reaching out for his little girl, he promptly jumped on a nearby rooftop – quickly followed by the hunter in the dark brown shirt.

Shark didn't protest this time as the other hunter took Chiara back and pressed her protectively against his chest, while he gave the smaller one a dirty look and growled out of displeasure.

The small hunter could just snort about that. Thanks to him they were safe on a rooftop and thus out of reach for the stupid ones. The other one had no reason to be so grumpy with him.

Before he could have thought about that a little while longer, he catched a familiar scent in the air. He smelled that scent before and he knew exactly who it belonged to. Earlier he wasn't too sure, but now the scent was much stronger than before and didn't leave any doubt in his mind.

It seemed like Scarface was back again. That wasn't good. Especially not if one considered the fact, that Shark couldn't just smell Scarface but other of his brethren too. That was definitely a disaster.

Shark couldn't stop the unintentionally whine that slipped out of his mouth as he sniffed the air again and looked in all directions around him. He could deal with the much bigger hunter on his own, but not when he had to worry all the time about the freshly turned hunter and the little human girl by his side.

The small hunter paid his two companions little to no mind – who were both looking at him questioningly, even though the father seemed a little bit confused due to the scent he also catched in the air but couldn't place anywhere.

They were near and just as Shark was contemplating to leave this place, a thump sounded behind him on the rooftop. He barely whipped around – spotting an angry looking Scarface and another two hunters, one lean and the other big, who he recognized both as one of his former pack mates – before he was tackled by Scarface with no warning whatsoever.

The force of the attack was enough to cause the small hunter to be shoved over the edge and to fall off the rooftop.

Shark shrieked out of shock as he flew through the air and couldn't find anything to hold on to in order to stop his fall. In a last attempt to soften his fall he turned midair, so that he was facing the advancing ground, only to spot in the place of a hard, cold underground a group of commons, who were gathered below and were looking hungrily up to him and the roof.

The small hunter landed in the middle of all the stupid ones, who luckily for him cushioned his fall a bit by being crushed under his weight. He didn't feel sorry for them in the slightest.

Hissing quietly – the landing did hurt a bit regardless – the hunter in the red hoodie propped himself up and hastily looked up to the roof. He panicked as he couldn't see anyone standing on it anymore.

Before he could have jumped on the roof to check if he wasn't really mistaken about that, he catched some movement out of the corner of his eye.

Out of instinct he leaped back – crashing into some other stupid ones in the process – as Scarface landed exactly there where Shark had been merely a second ago.

The bigger hunter snarled furiously, whereupon the smaller one growled in return and crouched down into a defensively stance. The moment he saw how the big hunter's muscles tensed up for a second attack, he jumped out of the way. Or at least he wanted to, but couldn't as the many hands of the stupid ones, who were grabbing any fabric of his clothing they could reach, prevented him from doing so.

Shark hissed out of anger and in a short lived fit of rage he lashed out in order to get free from their grip. His claws were met with rotting flesh that gave easily in under the pressure of his attack. He made short work of all the stupid ones by clawing at their arms, even going as far as to bite into their flesh and ripping one or two limbs out of their sockets.

But unfortunately he was a little bit too slow and before he could have freed himself fully, a heavy weight collided with him and crashed together with him into more stupid ones around them, who flailed their limbs uselessly and moaned loudly.

Shark tried to prop himself up straightaway, but Scarface was faster and promptly pressed him back down again, while he growled warningly at the smaller hunter under him. The small hunter snarled out of anger as he pushed back with all his strength but couldn't get up again. The bigger hunter was too strong.

If he could just get free then he could outrun his former alpha, he knew it.

Shark winced as he felt Scarface's sharp teeth gracing his vulnerable throat, whereupon his whole body became stiff and an uneasy whine left his lips. He hated it so much, that the bigger hunter always went for the throat first. One should think he could have predicted that move from a mile away, but even though the hunter in the dark green hoodie was big and beefy he could strike very fast before you had time to react properly. He wasn't the alpha for nothing after all.

But even so Shark stopped his struggling Scarface didn't let up from him – rather the opposite. With a deep growl the big hunter gripped the smaller ones shoulders harder, so that his claws sank painfully into the flesh there, while he bit into his throat at the same time – not too deep to cause any major harm but deep enough to leave a mark.

The small hunter couldn't stop the pained whimper that slipped out of his mouth as he forced himself not to struggle anew. It would just get worse if he were about to resist.

It seemed like his former alpha was still angry about their last encounter with the witch or else he would have let up from him by now. Shark couldn't blame Scarface for that, to be honest – what didn't mean that he liked the treatment any better.

But he had to stop this somehow. He had no clue where his little girl and her father were and if they were safe. He had to find them and if necessary protect them. He couldn't do that pinned under Scarface like he was at the moment.

As if the stupid ones had heard his thoughts, they suddenly decided to do something else than to just stare stupidly at the pair. They started to clumsily pull and claw at the two hunters in their midst, whereupon Scarface finally released his hold on Shark with a furious growl and tried to slap the commons away instead.

Shark immediately made use of the opportunity and wiggled out from under the bigger hunter, before he jumped on a rooftop. Away from the horde and Scarface, who quickly noticed his absence and leaped after him.

The small hunter didn't loose any time and swiftly jumped on the roof where he had last seen his little girl and the other hunter. No one was here anymore.

Where could they be? He had to find them!

A difficult task with Scarface at his heels. The big hunter barely landed on the same rooftop as Shark hastily leaped to the next roof and then to another one. He had to leave Scarface behind in order to go look for Chiara and her father.

But stubborn as the alpha was he didn't stop his pursuit.

Not til Shark heard a loud screech coming from the bigger hunter behind him and he suddenly smelled another of his brethren close by did he realize that Scarface was calling for help. It seemed like the hunter in the dark green hoodie wanted to make sure that he wouldn't escape from him this time around.

Shark looked fleetingly over the other rooftops in his proximity, only to spot the lean hunter from before leaping from roof to roof – approaching too fast for his liking.

If Shark wasn't mistaken then this had to be Runner – a name he had given this particular former pack mate of his because the lean hunter had loved it to run over the roofs, through the woods or in the streets and because he was a really fast runner. The small hunter couldn't even say if Runner was faster than he was, but he definitely could keep up with him.

Gritting his teeth out of frustration the small hunter picked up the pace. If they would get him then it was all over. He couldn't let that happen.

Shark wondered briefly what Scarface could possibly want from him and why he hadn't given up by now, but stopped that train of thought shortly as he nearly slipped. That wasn't important right now. He should rather concentrate of getting away. There would still be time for some thinking later.

The small hunter looked quickly back over his shoulder to check where the other two hunters were, only to see the lean hunter hot on his heels. To his displeasure he noticed that there were only a few meters left between them.

In an attempt to loose his former pack mates somehow Shark swiftly made a sharp right turn, before he jumped to his left – dropping some meters and landing on a smaller building in the process – shortly after. Seeing an already shattered window in his next intended flight path, he promptly leaped through it, so that he landed in some kind of study room. But he didn't linger there for long. Instead he dived headlong into the next room – not even looking at his surroundings – and hastily climbed out of an open window. From there it was a short fall onto the fire escape stairs below.

Not wanting to loose precious time the small hunter quickly leaped over the street and on the next rooftop, where he continued his escape, while he tried to make quick changes in direction to confuse and eventually loose his pursuers.

But no such luck.

Shark barely avoided being crushed under Runner's weight – who had tried to jump on him from out of nowhere with a loud screech – by clumsily rolling to his side. The hunter in the red hoodie quickly propped himself up again and growled loudly out of pure frustration.

But before he could have jumped off again, his ankle was grabbed firmly by the lean hunter, so that he lost his balance and crashed face first to the ground.

Shark groaned lowly as he heard a quiet cracking noise from his nose at the impact with the ground, whereupon he felt something wet – he guessed it had to be his own blood – flowing out of it. He snuffled awkwardly, before he whipped around in order to face Runner, who was still holding his ankle.

The small hunter snarled angrily and bared his teeth warningly, while the lean hunter seemed to laugh at him with his big toothy grin on his face. It looked like the other hunter thought the chase to be amusing.

Under different circumstances Shark could have agreed, but looking at his situation now he didn't think that the chase was remotely amusing – considering he was the prey in it.

It didn't look like Runner would let go of him any time soon, at least not of his own volition.

A deep growl left Shark's lips as he slashed at the other hunter without any hesitation left, who quickly let go of him in order do dodge the attack. With his newfound freedom the small hunter promptly sprang up on all fours and leaped to the next rooftop, while he could hear an angry sounding screech not far behind him. He was pretty sure that that furious scream came from Scarface.

Runner wasn't far behind him, who immediately followed him and tried to grab for him again. Shark winced as he felt one of the lean hunter's claws grazing the sole of his foot as he barely missed his target.

Shark looked hastily around him, but no matter how hard he looked he couldn't spot anything that would help him to loose his pursuers. He had no choice but to keep running and to hope that he wouldn't run out of steam first.

But before he could have done just that, two long limbs suddenly wrapped themselves around him from behind and trapped his arms against his sides. It seemed like Runner had catched up with him. Shark struggled wildly in the other's grip as he saw the roof, he was about to jump on before the lean hunter had snatched him out of the air, coming steadily closer. With his arms rendered useless the landing would be a painful one – especially with Runner's additional weight on his back.

The impact with the hard and unforgiving surface of the rooftop was indeed excruciating and wormed a pained scream out of the small hunter. He could have sworn that he heard some of his bones breaking. But he couldn't ponder very long over that as something else catched his attention.

The momentum of their fall was so strong, that they skidded over the rooftop up to the edge of the skyscraper, whereupon they tumbled over it.

Runner's shocked screech nearly drowned Shark's own alarmed shriek out as they fell to the ground below together.

As Shark noticed that the lean hunter was about to let go of him in order to save himself somehow, he swiftly grabbed Runner's arm in return and tried to wrench the other hunter under him, so that he could land on him like the lean hunter had done to him not some seconds ago.

He wouldn't fall to his doom alone!

But Runner didn't give up without a struggle. The two hunters clawed at each other and wrestled wildly with the other in the air, while the ground advanced constantly.

In the end neither of the two hunters could gain the upper hand, so that they both landed painfully on their sides side by side. Following the impact all of Shark's air whooshed out of his lungs and he was left breathless, while he was damn sure that this time some of his bones did definitely crack loudly.

He couldn't help the pathetic whimper that slipped out of his lips as he tried to get up again. But no matter how hard he tried his limbs just wouldn't move. The crippling pain – and probably some broken bones – prevented him from doing so. Another miserable sounding whine escaped him as he heard a loud thump nearby before he could spot Scarface's shape out of the corner of his eye.

That was it. There was no escaping now.

Biting his bottom lip hard to prevent himself from making any more sounds, Shark watched silently how his former alpha crawled over to Runner to check up on him. At first the lean hunter seemed lifeless the way he was lying motionless and utterly silent on his side. But that changed immediately as Scarface shoved his pack mate roughly and growled in an impatient fashion.

Runner twitched with a loud painful sounding groan, before he turned his head slowly and looked up at his alpha. The lean hunter was greeted with Scarface's face, which was adorned with a sadistic looking grin by now. The big hunter found the pain of others – even if it was the pain of one of his own pack mates – amusing like usually. It seemed like Scarface really hadn't changed a bit over all these years.

With a deep rumbling sound the alpha grabbed the lean hunter's neck and dragged him not too gently to his knees, before he let go of him again. Runner stumbled for a moment, but steadied himself rather quickly again and stayed crouched down – even though he seemed to do it with some difficulties if his pained face was anything to go by.

Scarface studied his pack mate for some long tense seconds, before he gave him an approving nod and turned around to Shark's direction afterwards, who was still lying motionless on the ground.

For a short moment Shark looked fearfully up to the bigger hunter, before he tried to mask that fear with a defiant snarl forming on his lips. He didn't want to know what the hunter in the dark green hoodie had planned for him. He just knew that it wouldn't be anything pretty.

He tried to growl warningly at Scarface as the bigger hunter approached him slowly, but all that left his mouth were just some pathetic sounding gargling noises and a mouthful of dark blood. A violent coughing fit caused his body to shake all over shortly after – and damn did that hurt!

He stopped then to try to intimidate the bigger hunter, which was a useless attempt from the beginning anyway and proceeded to just lie there in silence.

Scarface stopped at his side and for some long seconds he only stared expressionless at the smaller hunter, before a taunting grin threatened to split his face in two. He cackled lowly as he bent lazily down in order to lap the blood, that was dripping out of Shark's mouth and down his chin. The hunter in the red hoodie could just grimace out of disgust about that. The deep purr of the bigger hunter didn't help the situation neither.

The small hunter couldn't stop the quiet whimpers from escaping him as Scarface stopped licking his face and instead put his hand on the smaller one's head to press down hard. Shark shut his one remaining eye tightly as the pressure on his head got quickly unbearable. Just as he thought that his skull would cave in any moment now did Scarface release his pounding head with an amused snort.

Shark glared balefully at his former alpha, who just gave him a sadistic grin. That bastard was having fun.

He couldn't help himself but to wince out of fright as Scarface lifted his hand for another attack. He just wanted it to be over already. He still had to find Chiara and her father. That was the last thought Shark clung to, before the big, beefy hunter hit him over the head and the sweet darkness of unconsciousness overtook him.


	13. Dark memories

_It was quiet, dark but warm nonetheless and a flavorsome scent crawled up his nose every time he took a breath. The perfect conditions for a peaceful sleep during the hateful day._

_But suddenly his deep slumber was rudely interrupted by a light weight jumping up and down on his back and a happy sounding squeaking._

_Grumbling to himself the small hunter tried to ignore that small nuisance on his back – even though he knew out of experience that this was a futile task in itself._

_It wasn't long before the little thing on his back stopped its jumping and instead crawled further up to his neck. A squeaky growl sounded right next to his ear, before a wet tongue started to lick his chin and cheek._

_With a playful growl of his own the small hunter in the dark red hoodie finally opened his eyes and looked up at his little girl, who was giving him a toothy grin._

_A quick glance out of a very small window on the other side of the hall told him that it wasn't quite night yet, even though it seemed like it was sundown outside. He couldn't stop the exhausted sigh that left his lips upon this discovery. Why did his pup had to wake up so early nearly every day?!_

_The small hunter was pulled out of his thoughts as something or rather someone started to stir in his arms. Purring softly he looked down at his mate, who was blinking sleepily up at him and their little girl._

_The huntress looked really adorable when she wasn't fully awake yet. Cackling softly he bent down and licked her lips before he pressed his face into the curve of her neck whereupon he inhaled deeply._

_His mate's scent was so sweet. In his opinion the huntress smelled really good. That was probably the reason why he started to refer to her as Flavor shortly after he met her the first time in his life. He didn't exactly know what the word really meant but he just knew that it was fitting for her._

_The small hunter had only few seconds left to relish her scent, before Flavor gripped his shoulders in a surprisingly strong grip and pushed him swiftly down, so that he was lying on his back with his mate on top of him and his pup clinging to his chest._

_Flavor grinned happily down at him. With a purr and a rather loud mewl she sat down on his stomach, before she picked their pup up and cradled the little girl in her arms, who made some delighted gurgling noises in exchange._

_The cute family moment was interrupted by an annoyed sounding growl near by, which sounded more like a warning than anything else._

_The small hunter turned his head slowly in the direction from where the sound came from only to spot his alpha staring at him and his family with his not existing eyes. Scarface snarled out of anger and slight disgust, before he turned away from the sight and started to wake up the rest of the pack members, who were scattered in the old warehouse and resting._

_The hunter in the red hoodie frowned, while he tried to figure out why the bigger hunter was acting like he did. He would never understand his alpha. What was his damn problem anyway? One moment he was almost nice to him and seemed to care for the smaller hunter and the next moment he ws acting like the biggest bastard in the world. Come to think of it, Scarface was just nicer to him when Flavor wasn't around._

_He was pulled out of his thoughts yet again when his mate let herself fall on top of him and huddled against his chest while still holding their little girl in her arms. Both his ladies were purring happily and obviously ignoring their alpha's bad mood._

_He couldn't help the amused smile that stretched his lips and the warm, fluttery feeling that bubbled up in his stomach as he regarded his mate and his pup warmly. He really could call himself a lucky guy to have such beautiful ladies by his side. He wouldn't want to trade them for anything else in the world._

_The small hunter just enjoyed the company of his family and the warmth and happiness that came with them, while he slung his arms around his mate's lithe body and closed his eyes briefly._

_Not till a big shadow fell on them and a harsh growl sounded right next to him, was the hunter in the red hoodie reminded of the fact that they weren't alone and that they angry alpha still existed._

_With a barely audible sigh he opened his eyes again only to look directly into Scarface's scarred and scowling face. What did he want now? Biting his bottom lip lightly to prevent himself from making any annoyed sounds he would probably regret right afterwards, he glanced behind the big beefy hunter. Some other big, muscular looking hunters and a few lean ones – who the small hunter recognized as the usual party for a hunt – were crouching right behind their alpha and watching the spectacle in front of them. It seemed like Scarface wanted to go out for a hunt and as usual the bigger hunter wanted him to go along._

_The hunter in the red hoodie nodded slightly, before he sat up carefully and gripped Flavor's shoulders, who was now sitting in his lap and didn't look like she wanted to move any time soon. The small huntress was even glaring accusingly at their alpha for interrupting their precious cuddling time._

_In any other situation the small hunter would have tought his mate's reaction to be cute, but in this instant it definitely wasn't. Not if the angry snarl on Scarface's lips and the quiet growl that quickly got louder by the second was anything to go by. Flavor wouldn't look cute anymore after their alpha would be done with her._

_In order to prevent his mate from being brutally mauled by the bigger hunter he quickly licked Flavor's lips and gave her an reassuring smile, before he gripped her shoulders a little bit harder and pushed her off of his lap._

_A displeased whine left the huntress lips and for a short moment the small hunter feared that she wouldn't give up that easily and would cause a scene. But fortunately she merely leaned forward again and licked his lips, while his little girl jumped out of her mother's arms and on his shoulders in order to huddle close into the curve of his neck._

_The sweet temporary farewell from his family was cut short as Scarface growled in an impatient fashion and grabbed the smaller hunter's neck roughly, so he could drag him along and away from his family._

_Flavor quickly snatched their pup from his shoulder as she watched them go and waved after the group of hunters, while a big pout was adorning her beautiful face._

_Outside of the warehouse the small hunter noticed that the sun was barely visible on the horizon anymore. So it nearly was night time._

_Holding back an annoyed growl he glanced at his alpha, who was still tightly holding his neck through the material of his hoodie like the bigger hunter was afraid he would go back to his mate the instant he would let go of the smaller one._

_The hunter in the red hoodie really didn't like it to be manhandled like that – disregarding the fact that the hard grip on his neck was a little bit painful._

_After a while – during that time Scarface was sniffing the air to decide which way to go first – he couldn't stop himself from squirming lightly out of discomfort. Not only got the grip on his neck more painful by the second but also the amused and scoffing stares of the other hunters around them were too humiliating for his liking. He really felt embarrased right now. He wouldn't be surprised if his alpha enjoyed his little suffering. Why couldn't the bigger hunter just leave him alone? What did he ever do to him? Nothing, he did absolutely nothing! At least nothing that he could remember._

_Sometimes he really hated that sadistic bastard who was calling himself their alpha._

_The moment Scarface made his mind up where to start with the hunt, he finally let go of the smaller hunter, who couldn't suppress a relieved sigh – which also sounded a little bit angry._

_The hunter in the red hoodie didn't miss the sadistic smile on Scarface's lips, that was directed at him, before the big beefy hunter leaped on top of the rooftop of the warehouse and started to lead the small group of hunters to wherever his destination was._

_With a deep growl out of pure frustration the small hunter only hesitated for a short second before he followed their alpha – hoping that the rest of the hunt would go more smoothly for him than the start of it._

* * *

_By now it was completely dark and the middle of the night. No sun was visible anymore. Just like there was barely any light filtering through the thick treetops from the moon._

_For hours they had searched the city for some prey in vain. They wouldn't find any survivors today. And now they were scattered all over the park of the city in hopes of finding some animal or some other prey that was remotely edible._

_With a deep sigh the small hunter – perching on a thick branch high up in the treetops – looked around him and sniffed the air for the tenth time. He still couldn't pick up anything. He could just smell the usual stench of death, gore and dirt around him._

_He had the feeling that they wouldn't have any luck tonight. Sometimes they just couldn't find any food no matter how hard or long they looked for it._

_It wasn't like he never had to go without food for some days, but he still didn't like it. He didn't want to see his mate and especially his pup being hungry. But the way things were looking he didn't have much choice in the matter._

_Anew he sighed deeply and shook his head slightly. He briefly wondered how his other pack mates were doing, before distant noise catched his attention. Curious he cocked his head and listened closely for the sound, whereupon he frowned thoughtfully. If he wasn't mistaken than it sounded like shrieks, a deep roar and some crashing sounds in the distance. It sounded like someone was screaming bloody murder._

_Even though this shouldn't concern him his curiosity was sparked. He swiftly leaped from one branch to another, closer to where all the noise was coming from, until he reached the end of the treeline. He quickly climbed up the tree, so that he had a higher and better vantage point._

_The moment he looked at the direction where the noise was coming from a strong wind blew in his direction and the scent it was carrying with it nearly caused the small hunter's heart to stop in horror. He would recognize that scent everywhere! Flavor! Flavor's blood! She was hurt!_

_The big cloud of smoke that was rising in the distance – where the warehouse they resided at the moment was located – didn't help neither to calm him down._

_What happened to his mate and pup?! He was about to warn the others of what he found, when another scent in the air brought him to freeze up in pure terror. No… that couldn't be! That definitely was the stench of one of those big, hulky monsters with their little head between their beefy shoulders. That thing stood for death and destruction._

_No, no, no, no, no! This wasn't happening! His family had to be okay! They weren't dead!_

_With a loud desperate sounding shriek the small hunter leaped from the tree and back towards the warehouse where he left his mate and pup. He didn't even wait for his other pack mates or his alpha to show up, so they could come along with him._

_If there really was a tank – he once heard a survivor calling that monster a tank – then he could never hope to defeat that mountain of muscles all by himself. Even with a group, including their strongest pack members, it was a hard and sometimes a nearly impossible feat to accomplish. But even so he knew that, the small hunter just couldn't wait for his pack mates._

_The only thing on his mind was the wellbeing of his mate and pup. They had to be alright!_

_It wasn't long until he arrived at his destination. And there the tank was. Standing in the middle of all the rubble of the partly destroyed wall of the warehouse._

_Fleetingly he noticed some hunters – members of his pack – scattered about the place. As far as he could tell just a few were dead, some were hurt but most of them seemed to be well and kicking. The healthy ones were even trying to drag their hurt pack mates further away from the danger without alerting the tank in the process._

_But the small hunter's main focus was on the destroyed warehouse from which he could smell the strong scent of blood. Flavor's blood… Was she hurt? She had to be hurt. She couldn't be dead!_

_Trembling out of fear and distress he quickly crawled towards the warehouse. He pressed himself as close to the ground as he could while he tried to be as silent as possible. The last thing he wanted was to attract the attention of that beast, who seemed to be in some kind of trance for the moment._

_He successfully sneaked past the tank and further into the partly destroyed warehouse, while he glanced consistently at the hulky form of that monster to make sure he was still not being noticed._

_Slightly panicked and deeply terrified for his loved ones he hastily looked around him and sniffed wildly in order to locate his mate. It didn't take long till he spotted something pink between all the rubble. He quickly leaped over to the spot – still minding to be quiet. As he crouched in front of his mate's motionless body – which was half buried under the rubble, her legs probably crushed – he couldn't stop the distressed whine from escaping his lips. With trembling hands he reached out for the huntress and grabbed her shoulders, before he started to shake her desperately. She had to wake up!_

_The small hunter nearly cried out of joy as Flavor stirred and a miserable sounding groan sounded from her. The huntress looked up at him with blurry eyes and a pained face, while a whimper passed her bloody lips._

_Before he could do anything – like pulling his mate out of the rubble – she grabbed one of his wrists firmly, before she shoved a blue bundle from under her into his arms. He instantly recognized it as his little girl, who seemed to be unconscious . He swiftly put his free arm around the little form and pressed his pup securely against his chest. Flavor must have protected their little girl from the falling debris with her own body._

_The huntress looked relieved the moment she knew her pup safe in the arms of her mate, whereupon she let go of the small hunter's wrist and instead pushed weakly against one of his legs. She was urging him with a frail sounding mewl to go and to bring their pup to safety._

_But he couldn't do that. He couldn't leave her behind like that!_

_He promptly shook his head hard and whined out of distress. He wouldn't leave without her. Determined to also safe his mate he grabbed one of her arms with his free hand and started to pull with all his might, but couldn't move her even an inch. The pained scream of the huntress pained himself, but he wouldn't give up yet. He couldn't! Again he pulled and again Flavor screamed, whereupon a deep rumbling noise sounded behind the small hunter._

_Panicked he whipped around only to see the tank staring at them, before the giant roared loudly and charged at them._

_The small hunter's whole body stiffened out of fright and his eyes went impossibly wide. But even so he tried to ignore that fear and instead snarled and growled furiously, while he clutched his pup even closer to his chest and crouched protectively in front of his mate._

_He had to protect them! Somehow! They couldn't – they mustn't – die!_

_Behind him Flavor was screaming and hissing, while she didn't stop to push weakly against his back. He couldn't leave her to die! He couldn't live with himself afterwards if he did!_

_Out of reflex he squinted his eyes tightly as a giant fist was about to smash them into bits and pieces. It seemed like that was the end…_

_His eyes snapped open again as suddenly a heavy force collided with his side and shoved him and his pup out of the way._

_The small hunter could only watch in horror as the tank's giant fist smashed into Flavor's broken body on the ground. A horrible wet sounding squelching noise coupled with the cracking of bones reached his ears as blood and even some organs were splattered from under the big fist._

_He barely noticed that some of the blood even reached his face and was now dripping down from his chin, while his alpha's muscular arms were tightly wrapped around his shaking form._

_A heart-wrenching scream was ripped from his lips as he tried to lunge at that beast. But Scarface wouldn't let him, whose hands were still forcefully holding him in place._

_This was a nightmare! This couldn't be happening! Flavor wasn't dead! No, no, no, no, no, NOOO!_

* * *

Shark woke up with a start, wheezing and crying loudly while he clutched something warm under is hands. He needed some long seconds to register that it was a body – a living breathing body that was embracing him. Shortly after a purr reached his ears and he felt how a pair of warm hands was stroking his back a little bit too rough but still in a comforting manner.

For a short moment he wanted to believe that those horrible memories were just a nightmare and that his mate was still alive. He desperately wanted to believe that everything was alright and that it was Flavor who was holding him in her arms and trying to comfort him.

But too soon the reality caught up with him. The body next to him was too big, the purr sounded too deep and the smell was all wrong, not sweet in the slightest.

Startled he looked up with tear-stained cheeks, only to stare into Scarface's grinning mug. What was he doing here? Why was he trying to comfort him? And how could he even do that while he still seemed to find his suffering amusing?!

The smaller hunter was still too shocked to do anything, so that at first he didn't react as the bigger hunter leaned down and licked his tears up with a rough tongue.

As the action finally registered in his brain Shark snarled furiously and tried to shove his former alpha away, but he instantly paused with a pathetic sounding whimper as the crippling pain rendered him useless.

Suddenly he remembered everything again that happened before he lost consciousness. The horde, Chiara and her father, Scarface and Runner, the chase, the fall and the bone-crushing landing.

No wonder he was still in pain and couldn't move a muscle even if he desperately wanted to.


	14. Escape

Everything happened too fast for the little girl to comprehend. One moment Shark was crouching right next to her and her daddy and the next moment he just vanished.

Chiara blinked a couple of times as she stared confused at the empty space where Shark had been just some moments ago.

If she wasn't mistaken than she had seen some kind of green clad figure – even though it had been just a blur for her.

The sound of loud shrieking, growling and moaning snapped her out of her musings, so that she quickly looked up from the ground and directly at the two new hunters in front of them. Out of the corner of her eyes she could have sworn that she saw a red and a green blur flying through the air for a short moment. But she didn't have the time to check that out further.

With a quiet whimper Chiara clutched her daddy's arm, while the hunter with the brown shirt pressed her tighter against his chest in a protective motion.

The little girl didn't like the looks the lean and the big hunter were giving her. They looked really hungry and the big toothy grins unsettled her immensely. The big hunter was even drooling!

“D-Daddy?”, the five year old stuttered weakly while her voice shook a bit out of fear. What were they supposed to do? Where was Shark? What was going on?

The only answer she got from her father was a loud warning growl that was directed at the other two hunters on the roof, who both didn't seem to be impressed in the slightest.

Without any warning whatsoever the big hunter suddenly leaped at them, leaving her father no choice but to dodge frantically.

Chiara yelped loudly and shut her eyes tightly while she clung to her daddy and pressed her face into his clothed chest. She was really scared. Up til now she only had encountered some commons up close – yes there had also been that grinning monkey – but they hadn't seemed so dangerous like those two mean looking hunters.

The little girl didn't dare to open her eyes again. Trembling slightly she continued to cling to her father, while all the different sounds of growls, moans and shrieks and the feeling of air rushing by harshly – probably caused by her father's hectic movements – assaulted her senses.

She only opened her eyes again when she felt the familiar feeling in her stomach that she always got when flying through the air. The little girl quickly realized that her daddy was jumping to another rooftop. At the same time he was leaving Shark behind.

“W-wait! We have to… what about… Shark is still… Daddy!”, Chiara exclaimed panicked and overly worried for the smaller hunter, so that she couldn't even get a full sentence out. She felt more and more overwhelmed with the whole situation.

Her daddy only grumbled something unintelligible and pressed her tightly against his chest, before he landed still a little clumsily on another rooftop. An uneasy sounding growl left his lips, as he quickly turned around in order to see if someone was following them.

The five year old couldn't help the frightened whimper from escaping her, as she spotted the big hunter hot on their heels. Her farther didn't hesitate any further and swiftly leaped to the next rooftop and then to another one.

The big hunter was relentless in his chase. It didn't seem like he would give up any time soon – even though her daddy was definitely faster than the bigger hunter but unfortunately also clumsier.

Chiara's heart was pounding loudly in her ears as she fleetingly threw a panicked look over her father's shoulder, only to spot the manic grin on the big hunter's ugly face. With a gasp that transformed quickly into a loud whimper the little girl squeezed her eyes tightly shut again and held on to her father's shirt for dear life.

Why was this happening? Just earlier they had fun together. It was only supposed to be a little shopping trip. Nothing that could harm anyone, right? Then how did it come to this?!

The little girl didn't even notice the new wetness on her cheeks as she started to cry helplessly. This was too much for a simple five year old human child.

Her Daddy chanced a worried glance down at her, but quickly had to look back up as he nearly misstepped. He didn't like the fact that his pup was crying and obviously truly distressed. But there wasn't much he could do at the moment. There was still this fucking nuisance in form of a bigger hunter chasing the both of them and by the looks of it the other hunter wouldn't give up that easily.

The slightly smaller hunter couldn't help the angry and partly panicked sounding whine from escaping his lips. He wouldn't let anything happen to his dear pup, ever! But even so deep down he had his doubts if he could really do it – considering the fact that he acted clumsier than was really necessary, what wasn't something he did on purpose.

Cursing violently in his own head he growled lowly at his failure to even run and jump properly without running the risk of falling to the ground. Granted it was way harder to do that stuff with only three of his normally four limbs.

Damn it all! He faintly remembered how his little girl told him once before that it would be easier for him when he would carry her like Shark always did it.

To be honest the small hunter still wasn't one of his favorite persons in the world, but he was grateful for the fact that the smaller hunter had looked out for his beloved pup, when he wasn't there for her. He had mixed feelings regarding the hunter in the dark red hoodie.

It annoyed him that Shark seemed to believe that he owned Chiara like she was his pup and that he had to protect her even from her real father. The five year old was his little girl and not Shark's. And the fact that the smaller hunter even attacked and nearly killed him once if his pup hadn't intervened that time wasn't helping the case.

On the other hand Chiara seemed to genuinely like the small hunter and Shark was indeed treating his pup only with care and love in return. The smaller hunter even had helped him here and there at some points in his own slightly rough way.

That frigging hunter in the red hoodie was fucking complicated and made no sense sometimes!

So it was only natural that he wasn't fond of the idea to carry his pup like that damn small hunter. He didn't want to act like the smaller one, he didn't need to rely on Shark and he especially didn't want his help!

But still… He had to admit to himself – as he nearly stumbled again – that he had no choice at the moment. If he wanted his little girl to be safe then he had to bite the bullet.

Grunting harshly he quickly bit hard into the material of Chiara's blue hoodie at the nape area, while he was mid-jump and flying through the air. The fact that his little pup didn't even react to the change of transportation method worried the little girl's father. He gritted his teeth out of frustration as he landed way more smoothly than before on the next rooftop.

But he had no time to relax or even celebrate that fact, as shortly after another thump sounded behind him on the roof.

That damn bulky hunter was still after them.

How the hell was he supposed to loose the other hunter? The little girl's father looked around frantically, hoping to find anything that could help him. But the only thing he spotted besides all the buildings was a large bridge in the distance – and he wasn't sure how that could help him if at all.

But he had no more time to think about that as he heard a menacing growl behind him, so that he jumped out of the way instinctively – merely avoiding being pinned down to the ground by a hair breadth.

The slightly smaller hunter hurriedly leaped to the next rooftop, only to yelp out of shock as something cold and wet caught one of his ankles and brought him crashing down to the ground. Instantly he wrapped both of his arms around his pup and pressed her close to his chest, as his side collided painfully with the hard surface of the rooftop.

Groaning miserably he opened his eyes again, which he had closed before out of a reflex. What the heck just happened?! He quickly looked down at his ankle as he felt a tugging sensation there.

It didn't take him long to realize that a disgusting fleshy thing – was that a freaking tongue?! - was tightly wrapped around his ankle and was pulling him steadily across the roof and nearer to the edge of the rooftop. If he wasn't mistaken then that had to be a tongue of a smoker.

He hissed out of discomfort, quietly followed by a distressed whimper, while he pressed his little girl closer to his chest, who was shaking really badly by now. Her daddy started to struggle wildly and began to trash violently in the futile attempt to get rid of that damn tongue. But the thing wouldn't let go.

Snarling the hunter in the brown shirt let go of his pup with one arm and used it to grab that slimy disgusting thing, before he started to pull on it.

He nearly succeeded in freeing his leg when he suddenly felt nothing but empty air under his feet. He had noticed too late how close they were to the edge of the roof by now.

But before he could have toppled fully over the edge a sudden heavy weight landed on his stomach, whereupon a choked scream left his trembling lips and all his air was pushed out of his lungs. With a pained whimper he looked up warily, only to spot the big hunter, who had been chasing them, sitting on his stomach with a smug grin on his ugly face. That frigging bastard!

The smaller hunter also noticed that they had stopped moving – even though he could still feel the tugging sensation on his ankle. It seemed like the smoker wasn't strong enough to move the combined weight of himself and the bigger hunter on top of him, so that only his legs were dangling over the edge and his upper part of his body was still lying safely on the rooftop.

He wasn't sure if he should thank the bigger hunter for that or if he should curse him.

With an uneasy sounding growl the slightly smaller hunter wrapped both his arms tightly around the small whimpering form in his arms, before he tried to curl up protectively around her, so that he could protect her from harm with his own body.

He could literally feel the curious and smug glare on him. Grumbling a curse under his breath – which only consisted of some growling noises – the little girl's father examined the bigger hunter on top of him out of the corner of his eyes.

The other hunter was really bulky and at least half a head taller than himself. He was wearing a gray hoodie and green basketball shorts. Even though his face was shadowed by his hood the smaller one could detect an unshaved brown beard with some tiny holes in it.

With a curious sound the bigger hunter reached for Chiara, whereupon her father snapped his teeth at the offending hand with a snarl. That buffoon didn't seem too bothered by it, but he pulled his hand back slowly nonetheless.

The smaller hunter growled furiously as he spotted the amused grin on the other one's face, who was still sitting in a comfortable fashion on his stomach. What a prick. It was decided. He would call the bigger hunter Dickface from now on. He really didn't like that frigging huge hunter.

But besides that it seemed like the hunter with the gray hoodie hadn't realized yet that Chiara was a human girl and not a simple frightened pup. Apparently that Dickface wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

Chiara's daddy was more than relieved about that. He could even use that to his advantage if he was lucky enough.

He was pulled out of his musings as the tugging sensation on his ankle got more frantic, so that he started to squirm slightly, before he tried to pull his leg in the opposite direction. All the while he didn't leave Dickface out of his sight even for a second.

The bigger hunter finally seemed to notice his discomfort, whereupon he looked over his shoulder and at the slimy appendage. With a snort the bearded hunter clawed at the tongue and easily cut it off with a wet disgusting sounding noise.

Finished with his task Dickface turned around again and looked at the smaller hunter beneath him with a snarky grin, while he puffed his chest out proudly.

What? Did he expect any praise or thanks from him? That prick would get no such thing from him, so that he only growled out of annoyance and rolled his eyes. This whole situation was that bastard's fault in the first place!

Dickface's grin fell at that and instead a pout could be seen on his face, followed by a displeased sounding growl. That guy acted like a big child! What the hell was wrong with that prick?

An exasperated sigh left the smaller hunter's lips as he wondered what he was supposed to do in this situation. All the panic and fear from before had nearly vanished by now and left him with annoyance, confusion and worry for his pup. The poor little thing was still trembling like mad in his arms, but had become really quiet by now, what was more worrying than anything. He couldn't even hear a whimper, only just harsh breathing. But he couldn't investigate further in the matter or try to comfort his little girl right now. At first he had to get rid of frigging Dickface, before the bigger hunter realized that Chiara was human and therefore a potential meal.

Snarling anew the hunter with the brown shirt started to buck helplessly in hopes of throwing the other hunter off of him. Without his feet, which were still dangling over the edge of the rooftop in the air, and without his arms, with that he was holding his pup protectively against his chest, he had no real footing in order to move that heavy weight from on top of him.

If everything Dickface seemed only amused by his futile actions, if his loud cackling was anything to go by. That prick kept sitting on him, while staring at the smaller hunter and smirking.

Chiara's father kept his trashing up for some more minutes, before he collapsed, exhausted and out of breath. That bastard was too heavy for him.

While he tried to catch his breath, he suddenly heard violent coughing in the distance, before a tongue shot out from out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Dickface's torso. The bearded hunter seemed confused at first, but shrieked angrily as he was pulled from the roof with a forceful tug of the tongue.

The slightly smaller hunter could barely believe what just happened. What the actual fuck? He couldn't decide if he was the luckiest or the unluckiest person in the world. Why was his life so full of surprises and weird situations?! That was definitely an unexpected turn of events.

He hastily shook his head and chastised himself. He had no time to wonder about such things and to let such an opportunity pass by.

He hurriedly sprung up on all fours while he bit down on Chiara's hoodie again. With a quick glance out of the corner of his eyes he could spot an angry looking smoker in the distance. Seemed like the green guy wasn't happy about the fact that Dickface cut his tongue off before and stole his meal.

Grumbling something unintelligible under his breath the little girl's father swiftly turned away and jumped away from the scene. He had to get away as quickly as possible, before that buffoon would come back. And he had no doubts that he would.

He just hoped that this day wouldn't get any crazier than it already was…


	15. Forever Lost

He couldn't sleep. The intense pain, that flared up every time he tried to move, wouldn't let him. He desperately wanted to fall asleep or be unconscious again, so that he wouldn't have to feel this crippling pain anymore – even if it would be just for some hours.

While sleeping he could also be oblivious to the world around him. He wouldn't have to feign sleep, so that he had an excuse to ignore his former pack members and alpha – who were all mingling around somewhere in this building. He wouldn't have to worry about anything, like he was doing right now.

His thoughts returned to Chiara and her father every time he tried to think about something else.

Where were they? Was his little girl safe? What happened to them? Would… would they come for him or leave him behind?

If he was honest deep down he was afraid that his pup and her father would abandon him. He didn't want to stay with Scarface and his pack all alone and helpless.

But on the other hand he didn't want any harm to come to the little girl. It would be dangerous for her and the other hunter to come here. He was certain that his former alpha wouldn't greet them with open arms.

The only thing he could do for the moment was to hope that Chiara's father made the right choice and kept his little pup safe.

In a last attempt to distract himself from these dark thoughts Shark wondered what he could call the bigger hunter. It got annoying to call him Chiara's father. It was too long and reminded him too much of the fact that the other hunter was the little girl's true father.

Huffing under his breath Shark kept his eye closed and ignored all the commotion around him, while he pondered over a fitting name.

His little girl called the bigger hunter Daddy. Could he call him that? For some reason it didn't feel right to do that.

What was the first thing that came to mind when he thought about the bigger hunter? That thing on his head… It had seemed important to him, at least he didn't want to part with it. What was it called again? He knew Chiara had told him the name. Bas-call? No… Ball-cap, capper, cappy. Cappy… That wasn't exactly what it was called, but it sounded similar to Daddy.

Shark thought about it a while longer, before he came to a decision. He would call Chiara's father Cappy. It was short and easy to memorize.

A sudden wet sounding thump pulled him out of his thoughts, whereupon he couldn't stop himself from flinching slightly out of surprise. His nose twitched as the delicious smell of fresh meat reached his nostrils. He was so hungry – nearly starving. Even so Shark didn’t dare to open his eyes. Whoever was kneeling just some few meters next to him didn’t have to know that he was awake all this time.

Carefully Shark inhaled some air, only to get a whiff of Scarface’s scent. So it was his former alpha who sat right next to him with food. What was his damn game? Did the bigger hunter want to taunt him with the meat or did he expect Shark to eat it?

For some long seconds, which felt like hours for the small hunter, it was quiet. But it didn’t take long for the alpha to become impatient.

A low and annoyed sounding growl sounded, before a hand was roughly shoved into Shark’s side. The small hunter jerked and shrieked loudly out of pain. That hurt! His whole body was still in pain from that fall from the skyscraper.

Panting harshly the hunter in the red hoodie glared up at Scarface, who was grinning down at him. The smaller hunter’s suffering still amused the big hunter.

The longer the bigger hunter grinned down at him the more uneasy Shark became. The smaller hunter’s glare faltered slightly and a barely audible whine left his lips.

Scarface cackled loudly, before he pushed the bloody flesh in front of Shark’s face. Unsure what to make of that, Shark’s gaze flickered back and forth between the very tempting meat and Scarface’s mean grinning face.

He was so damn hungry! And he needed that food in order to heal faster and to gain some strength back. But the small hunter didn’t trust the bigger one. He couldn't believe that his former alpha would give him food just like that.

The hunter in the dark green hoodie tilted his head down – gesturing towards the meat.

Shark still hesitated. Long seconds went by before the small hunter couldn't take it anymore. The hunger was too much! The temptation was too much!

With a soft snarl coupled with a needy whine he reached out with trembling fingers and opened his mouth. But instead of tasting some flesh he bit down on empty air, while his hand clawed weakly for the meat.

A broken growl left his lungs as he glared hatefully at the bigger hunter. He knew it! In the last moment Scarface had grabbed the meat and had pulled it away out of Shark’s reach. The smaller hunter hated that shit eating grin. How smug the bigger hunter had to feel.

His own stomach growled loudly out of protest – demanding to be fed already. That only caused Scarface to start laughing. At least one of them had some fun.

Shark gazed tiredly at his former alpha, who quickly stopped cackling and instead shook the meat in his hand tauntingly, before he held it out for the smaller hunter. Scarface looked down at him with an expectant gaze, while he puffed his chest out – demonstrating his whole brawny height.

The smaller hunter just stared into Scarface’s empty eye sockets until he realized what the other wanted from him. He scowled and growled out of disbelieve. He would never beg! He would prefer to starve rather than to beg his former alpha for food. He wasn’t that pathetic. He wasn’t that weak yet.

Shark bared his teeth defiantly, before he turned around with difficulties and presented Scarface his back. He bit his lip hard to prevent himself from uttering any pained sound. Turning around hadn’t been one of his best ideas. It hurt! But now he at least didn’t have to look at that jerk.

The small hunter cringed as a furious sounding snarl rang out. His former alpha was angered about the fact that he didn’t get what he wanted.

Shark expected a new world of pain for him, so that he was more than surprised when instead of receiving a hit he heard Scarface’s leaving footsteps and unintelligible growling noises.

With caution he looked over his shoulder, only to see his former alpha’s back. He was really leaving. That was new…

Quietly Shark watched how the big hunter stalked through the room – occasionally snarling at another pack member or even shoving and hitting one of them. That lasted at least one hour, before the bigger hunter seemed to have enough. Shark blinked tiredly as he could witness how Scarface vanished out of one of the shattered windows. There went his meal. Again his stomach growled out of protest.

Shark sighed deeply and closed his eye. Maybe he should have swallowed his pride. He really craved that meat right now. Sighing once again the small hunter shook his head slightly. No it was the right decision. At least for now…

With another deep sigh the small hunter finally fell asleep.

* * *

_Silently the small hunter in the red hoodie crawled along the edge of a rooftop. His sharp eyes rested on the two survivors down in the streets. They were completely oblivious to his own and his pack’s presence._

_While he observed their potential meal for the day, he couldn't stop himself from nearly drifting off. His eyelids felt heavier with every second. Besides that thoughts of his little pup invaded his thoughts again and again, no matter how much he tried to concentrate on the hunt._

_He didn’t like to leave his pup all alone in their den. Sure there were also some other huntresses who cared for his little girl while he was gone, but they still weren’t his pup’s mother. They weren’t Flavor!_

_He still didn’t want – no couldn't – believe that his beloved mate was dead. Gone forever. Nearly every night he was plagued with nightmares. Nearly every night he had to relieve her gruesome death. He barely got any good sleep nowadays. He was still grieving for Flavor, while he was worried for his pup twenty-four-seven. He didn’t know how long he could keep this up._

_He was so tired, so that he nearly overheard the loud screech from his alpha, that was the sign for their attack. The small hunter jolted violently, what caused him to misstep and to nearly fall off the roof. But he recovered quickly and instead jumped off the roof, in order to land behind the two humans. The hunter in the red hoodie growled loudly, whereupon the two survivors whirled around with a shocked gasp. One of them was fast to recover and lifted their gun to shoot at the hunter._

_The small hunter barely dodged the bullet, before a big bulky hunter landed on the still shell-shocked human, who crumbled under the heavy weight with a choked scream._

_The other survivor with the gun cried out of fear and anger, while they lifted their gun again and shot at the bigger hunter, who was fast to jump away. Without any hesitations left the human pointed their gun swiftly at the small hunter again._

_The hunter in the red hoodie made the mistake to look the frightened being in the eyes, whereupon he froze and couldn't stop the low whimper from escaping his lips. Those eyes, so full of terror and desperation and wet with unshed tears. The only thing he could see at that moment was his mate’s pain stricken and sad face shortly before she had been pounded into a bloody pulp._

_At that very moment there wasn’t standing some survivor in front of him but his beloved dead mate._

_Not until the sound of a gunshot reached his ears was he pulled out of his trance, only to see that it was too late to dodge. That wasn’t the way he wanted to die. He couldn't leave his pup! He was all his little girl had left!_

_Suddenly a heavy force collided with him and yanked him painfully out of harm’s way – even so the bullet still grazed his shoulder and ripped the fabric there. As quickly as the weight came it vanished again, whereupon loud growls, shrieks and the wet sound of ripping flesh and painful screams were heard._

_While lying on the ground the small hunter groaned quietly, before he turned his head and watched with bleary eyes how his alpha was tearing the survivor apart in a fit of rage. He was just glad he wasn’t suffering the same fate… yet._

_Scarface wouldn't be happy with him._

_His musings were confirmed, when the big hunter finally let up from the mutilated corpse and instead crawled over to the smaller hunter. With a furious snarl the alpha grabbed the smaller one’s neck roughly and pulled him up into a crouching position. He coughed for a moment as the grip got tighter, before Scarface started to shake him violently until the smaller hunter’s world started to spin. He groaned miserably, but didn’t do anything to defend himself. He was just so tired. And again thoughts of his pup came up to the front of his mind. He shouldn’t be out here hunting and getting himself almost killed. He should be in their den by his daughter's side._

_He was pulled out of his thoughts as Scarface shoved him not too gently down to the ground, before he pierced his wounded shoulder with his sharp claws to remind him of his stupid mistake. The smaller hunter cried out of pain as tears started to gather in his eyes. After an angry growl from his alpha, he whined loudly and nodded hurriedly to show the bigger hunter that he understood and that he regretted his mistake. Some seconds passed, before the bulky hunter finally removed his claws from his bloody flesh._

_Before the smaller hunter could react he was yanked up again by his neck, before Scarface pushed him in the direction of their den with a snarl. He could tell that the bigger hunter was angry at him and also disappointed with him. Ever since Flavor had died he was useless in a hunt. He was constantly exhausted and couldn't concentrate when it mattered the most. He wondered how much longer Scarface would tolerate him in his pack. After all, only the strongest survived._

* * *

_To him it felt like ages till they reached their den. The way back took a little bit too long and had been painful for him. His shoulder still throbbed painfully. Sighing out of frustration the hunter in the red hoodie followed his pack mates slowly into the building._

_He barely stepped fully into the premises as a blue bundle came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. He hissed out of discomfort as he landed on his wounded shoulder, but quickly put a toothy grin on his face when his little girl looked up at him with concern all written over her little face._

_The proud father shook his head slightly and smiled reassuringly, while he carefully set up and slung his arms around his little girl. With a deep purr he nuzzled her head, whereupon she started to giggle and squirm in his grasp. His pup was all he had left, she was his only joy. Never would he leave her alone and make her upset._

_He was just glad that even though his little girl also missed her mother, Flavor's death hadn’t hit her as hard as it had him. More often than not his pup seemed confused that her mother wasn’t around what made her sad, but with a little distraction she forgot all about it again and instead enjoyed the little things in life. He guessed that his little girl was too young to really comprehend what happened to her mother._

_Once again the small hunter was pulled out of his musings as an annoyed sounding growl reached his ears. Slowly he turned his head, only to come face to face with the scarred face of his alpha, who was looking at his little girl with plain disdain on his face._

_He growled warningly, while he pulled his pup tighter against his chest. He didn’t like the look on Scarface’s face. Before the situation could escalate in any way the small hunter stood up and crawled away – up to the higher floors, where he retired in his dark corner with a lot of dirty and ragged blankets and pillows._

_With another sigh he curled up and started to nuzzle his little girl’s head again, who was yawning loudly by now and started to snuggle up to his chest. It didn’t take long for him to drift off, dreading the coming nightmares._

* * *

_Surprisingly the next time he woke up it wasn’t because of one of his nightmares, but because someone was shaking him roughly in order to wake him up._

_Groggily he turned on his back – clutching his still sleeping pup to his chest – and looked up at the culprit. No other than his alpha himself was crouching over him with a deep frown. The smaller hunter cocked his head with a questioning look. What was the problem now?_

_With an impatient snarl Scarface grabbed his chin and turned his head to the side so that he could see the other two big hunters sitting not too far away. Oh… his alpha wanted to go on a hunt. Then why did the bigger hunter want him to go along when he screwed up so bad last time?_

_Whatever the reason the smaller hunter couldn't care less at the moment. He was still too tired to go on a hunt right now. With a loud huff the small hunter yanked his chin out of Scarface’s grasp and turned around again. He didn’t even flinch this time when he heard the angry hissing noise from his alpha._

_The bigger hunter should just accept it and leave. It wasn’t the first time he refused to go on a hunt. Every other time the hunter in the green hoodie had bugged him for awhile longer before he left in a huff. But that wouldn't be the case this time, how the small hunter had to realize real soon._

_He realized too late what his alpha was up to. A shocked sound left his lips and his eyes widened impossibly wide – now fully awake – as suddenly his little girl was yanked out of his grip. The small hunter instantly sprung up and tried to claw for his little girl with a furious snarl._

_Scarface just smirked mockingly at him while he held the helpless pup with a hand around her fragile throat in the air. Now awake the little huntress squeaked out of protest and started to cough and struggle wildly._

_The small hunter promptly saw red and with a loud and enraged shriek he leaped at the bigger hunter, who dodged his attack at the last second. Before the smaller one could have started another assault, the other two bulky hunters – who had been sitting silently by the sidelines up till now – grabbed his arms and shoulders and pressed him face down to the ground._

_He struggled wildly in their hard grasp, snarled and growled and bared his sharp teeth in warning, before trying to bite the hands that were holding him down. Unfortunately he didn’t possess the strength to overpower two much bigger hunters than himself. Still he didn’t give up. He trashed desperately, bit and clawed at anything he could reach, only to get his face smashed repeatedly into the hard floor beneath him for his efforts. He surely had a bloody nose by now. Not that he cared about something like that in such a situation._

_Only when a pained whimper from his little girl reached his ears did the small hunter stop in all his movements. Panicked he looked up with some difficulties. His little girl was crying by now and desperately pulling on the fingers around her throat, which had tightened even more. That bastard was choking his pup!_

_The small hunter screamed bloody murder, while he glared hatefully up at his alpha. He bared his bloody teeth and growled deep and furious. How dare he?! Why was he doing that?!_

_With a last desperate try to free herself the little huntress bit down hard on Scarface’s hand. The bigger hunter hissed out of slight pain and released the pup from his tight grasp more out of surprise than actual pain. The little girl landed clumsily on the floor, before she stumbled hastily to her father, who was frantically reaching out for her._

_But before she could have reached the small hunter sharp claws met with her back and shredded her hoodie together with the smooth skin under the blue fabric. The little huntress collapsed with a pained shriek as the blood from her wounded back started to gather beneath her in a small puddle. The little girl whimpered weakly, while she looked pleadingly into her father’s face. That look nearly broke the small hunter’s heart, who could just watch in horror at his pup’s small bloody form._

_He couldn't tear his eyes off his little girl, not even when Scarface started to cackle gleefully._

_NO! No, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening! Why?!_

_A choked pained sound left his lips, while he started anew to struggle wildly. He desperately tried to reach out for his little girl who was slowly but surely bleeding out right in front of his eyes. But no matter how much he tried he couldn't reach her. His claws scratched frantically at the ground just some centimeters away from his pup’s body._

_He screeched loudly, panicked and angry, as Scarface lifted his little girl again – fortunately not around her throat this time but with a hard grip around her middle._

_The alpha looked down at the smaller hunter with a serious face, maybe even a little bit grim, before his lips stretched into a sadistic grin, like he had made up his mind about something._

_Without any further warning the big hunter bit down into the fragile neck of the little girl, before he ripped her throat out with his teeth. Instantly dark blood gushed out of the shredded wound, while the little huntress gurgled loudly and started to cough up the dark liquid._

_Without a care in the world Scarface dropped the little girl carelessly to the floor, where she landed with a dull thud. Her pained, clouded eyes landed on her father’s horror-stricken face, who could just watch helplessly how those grey-blue eyes slowly turned dull and lifeless._

_The small hunter could practically feel how his heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. A gut-wrenching scream – so full of pain, terror, despair and lost – left him, whereupon tears and heartbreaking sobbing followed right after._

_All the grief and despair quickly turned into blind rage, as Scarface’s laughter registered in his brain and reminded him who was responsible for his pup’s death. With a furious snarl he freed himself from the grips of the other two hunters – who had weakened their grasps unconsciously._

_He leaped at his alpha, who wasn’t expecting it, so that both hunters crashed to the ground with the smaller one on top of the other._

_Without any hesitation the small hunter took a swipe at the other hunter. He left some deep bloody scratch marks on Scarface’s scarred face, before he swiftly bend down and sank his teeth into warm flesh. But instead of his teeth piercing the bigger one’s throat like he had intended, he was now biting down on Scarface’s shoulder. That bastard had twisted out of the way at the last moment!_

_He saw the claws of his alpha coming down at him out of the corner of his eyes, so that he quickly let go of the bigger hunter and jumped back in order to dodge the attack. He barely landed on all fours, before he had to roll to the side to dodge another attack. He also dodged the next four attacks from his alpha, before he tripped over something and tumbled to the floor._

_Only as he registered the wet feeling under his palms, die he realize what caused him to trip. He turned his head in horror only to come face to face with his pup’s lifeless face. He froze and a pitiful whine left his lips, before he shook his head violently, but still he could not look away from the gruesome sight while he struggled to his feet._

_But before he recovered fully a heavy weight landed on his back and forced him back down to the ground. All the air was pressed out of his lungs as a choked sound was heard._

_Scarface’s hand landed on the small hunter’s head and pressed his skull hard into the ground – all the while his gaze wouldn't leave his pup’s dead eyes. A fact that seemed to not sit well with the bigger hunter._

_The alpha turned him roughly around on his back, before he grabbed his chin and forced his head up, so that he had to look in the other one’s face. Scarface’s mocking face was the last thing the small hunter saw before his world went black and turned into immense pain._

_He screeched out of agony and started to trash, as sharp claws attacked his right eye. He barely registered the wet sounding squelching noises that emitted from his right eye, where Scarface’s clawed fingers were digging deep into his eye socket. It hurt! It hurt so much! And he couldn't see!_

_It felt like eternity till the alpha finally pulled his bloody fingers out of his right eye socket. The hunter in the red hoodie whimpered pitifully, while he panted harshly. He opened his still intact left eye painfully only to realize that he couldn't see anything on his right side. A panicked sound left his lips as he started to frantically push against the bigger hunter’s chest. He was still in pain, confused, disoriented, angry and so damn much terrified._

_He wiggled out from under the big hunter, who wasn’t preventing him from doing so. With trembling limbs the small hunter scooted back until his back hit a wall. With a distressed whine he looked with his one teary eye at Scarface, whose expression he couldn't make out. Everything was so blurry._

_Still the small hunter realized something. He only had two options now._

_Either he stayed here, submitting to his alpha fully, probably suffering for the rest of his miserable life or he fled, leaving the security of a pack behind, to be free, trying to survive on his own. The choice should be easy and still he was torn between the two options. The pain that clouded his mind didn’t help either to clear his mind. It was hard to think very clearly._

_As the blurry form of his alpha stepped towards him, he was grabbed with so much terror, that he made his decision instantly. He couldn't stay here! Never! He rather tried his luck out there alone than to suffer anymore under that sadistic bastard._

_With a new adrenalin rush he dashed towards the next best shattered window and dived headlong through it._

_Still in agony and half blind he fled from his home, from his pack, from his alpha into the dark of the night. Never looking back once._


	16. Pack Dynamics

When Shark woke up again he couldn't tell how much time had passed. The only thing his still half-asleep brain could register immediately was that the alpha wasn’t crouching down anywhere near him.

Sighing out of relief the small hunter opened his eye groggily.

He could remember vague images of his nightmare, that he would have loved to forget forever. But sadly those memories were still a part of him and his life.

Sighing once again he blinked a couple of times to get rid of his slightly blurry vision. While doing so he noticed the silence around him. Why was it so quiet? Usually you could hear some growling, shrieking and cackling from some part of this place.

Frowning slightly he looked around warily, whereupon he could see a few of his brethren lying huddled on the ground a great distance away. It seemed like they were sleeping. So it had to be daytime by now – which didn’t really help him to figure out how long he had slept.

Sighing quietly he just lay there for some seconds longer, before he sniffed the air. The small hunter could only detect a faint scent of Scarface’s smell. So his former alpha shouldn't be in the building right now. He should try to escape while he had the chance. With Scarface out of the picture and the other hunters sleeping there was no better opportunity.

Shark swallowed hard and ground his teeth in order to prepare himself for the incoming pain.

Slowly he tried to pick himself up, only to hiss out of pain as his whole body protested against that act. His arms he was using to push himself up from the ground trembled violently, before they finally gave away and he crashed back to the dirty ground. The small hunter couldn't stop the choked yelp from escaping his lips when the pain only got worse.

He whimpered lowly as the realization dawned on him that his body was too weak to support his weight. He knew that some of his injuries had started to heal, but that also required a lot of energy – energy that he didn’t have.

Now he regretted not eating that meat which Scarface had offered him. At least then he probably wouldn't feel so weak and exhausted now and maybe some of his injuries would have healed faster. But all the whining and complaining in the world couldn't change that now – which didn’t stop him from doing just that regardless.

His nostrils flared slightly when suddenly a new smell infiltrated his senses. Was he starting to hallucinate or could he really smell some meat? Hesitantly he lifted his head in order to find the source of the new scent, which didn’t took very long.

Shark frowned when he spotted a young huntress, who was crawling slowly towards him with a small piece of meat dangling from her bloody teeth. He couldn't remember ever seeing her before, so that could only mean that she joined the pack after he left all those years ago.

The small hunter stared openly at the huntress, who came to a stop right beside him and stared right back. What did she want from him? Confused he warily watched out for any sudden or threatening movements, while he couldn't stop his gaze from wandering every so often to the heavenly smelling flesh between the female’s teeth.

He was so damn hungry! He could tell that the flesh wasn’t the freshest there was, but it still smelled good and that was all that mattered to him.

So what? Did she want to taunt him too or why was she just sitting there staring him down while holding the flesh just out of his reach.

Just as he was about to growl at the huntress out of frustration, did she suddenly bent down and dropped the meat right in front of his face.

Shark blinked a couple of times, before he looked back and forth between the tempting flesh and the huntress in disbelief. A confused noise left his lips, while he tried to understand why she would give him the meat just like that – if that was even really the case.

As an answer she shoved the piece of meat closer towards his face, so that the flesh was touching his nose by now, while a sympathetic whine could be heard from her.

That’s when the small hunter realized it. She was pitying him. He growled lowly as his first impulse was to refuse the meat. He didn’t want her pity! He didn’t want anyone’s pity for that matter.

But the longer he inhaled the delicious smell of the meat, which was still sitting right in front of his nose, the harder it got to withstand his gnawing hunger.

With a frustrated snarl he gripped the meat and tore into it like a starving man. He greedily wolfed it all down. Even if it wasn’t much it still helped to settle the worst of his hunger and soothed some of the cramping pain in his stomach. Sighing loudly a soft barely audible purr left his mouth, before he looked up at the huntress again, who seemed to be smiling down at him. Grudgingly he nodded at her in thanks and smiled slightly back. The gesture had been nice and he really had needed that food. So he could give her that much.

A sudden loud noise and a more than familiar scent caught not just his but also the huntress’s attention. The female looked alert, as she quickly leaped away and vanished in the shadows of the building. That had been probably the wisest decision. If Scarface saw her so close to him who knows what he would do to either her or him.

Gritting his teeth Shark looked over his shoulder with caution. The alpha was back, carrying some meat with him and getting closer to the smaller hunter. His best guess was that the other hunter would try to get him to beg for some food again.

Snorting quietly the small hunter turned away from the other one and stared stubbornly at the ground. Now that he had some food in his system his former alpha could forget about him begging for any kind of food. He wasn’t that hungry and desperate anymore, thanks to that surprisingly kind huntress.

The small hunter didn’t look up, when the bigger hunter crouched down right next to him. For some seconds it was deathly quiet, before Scarface growled lowly and grabbed his chin, so that he could roughly turn the smaller one’s head towards him. Not until he was sure that Shark’s gaze was on him, did he lift the meat tauntingly and smirked down at him.

The hunter in the red hoodie narrowed his eyes and growled out of anger. He knew it! His former alpha wanted him to beg. With a snarl he turned his head in order to shake off the hand on his chin. When that didn’t work and the grip only tightened, the small hunter bared his teeth in warning before he reached up and started to claw at the offending hand. He had enough of this! He wouldn't beg no matter what!

Instead of letting go Scarface growled furiously, as he lifted the smaller one’s head a little bit before slamming it back down on the hard ground. Shark whimpered out of pain as his whole body stiffened and as the blow left him dazed for a moment.

With a quiet whine he looked up again only to come face to face with Scarface’s sadistic grinning mug. Only some inches separated their faces now. The small hunter snapped at the other hunter, in a futile attempt to bite the alpha’s face off.

Big mistake. The big hunter frowned deeply when Shark opened his mouth, whereupon he caught a familiar scent. It smelled like meat. Not some old smell from a meal days ago, but the smell of fresh meat. The alpha could even detect fresh looking blood on the smaller one’s teeth.

It didn’t seem to take Scarface long to figure it out. Furious he snarled and growled deeply, as he slammed the other one’s head into the ground again. How dare he! How dare he accept food from someone else but not him, his alpha! Someone must have given the small hunter some meat. He couldn't have gotten any by himself.

Shark whimpered pitifully as his head started to throb painfully and the room started to spin for a second, so that he scrunched his eyes shut for a moment. What was Scarface’s damn problem?

The small hunter didn’t have long to ponder about that, as some fingers were suddenly shoved harshly into his mouth and past his teeth. Alarmed Shark opened his eyes again, before he started to panic as the bigger hunter was trying to pry his lips open by force. He tried to bite down – without any success. Before he knew it his mouth was forced open and another hand was shoved into his mouth and down his throat.

Shark choked violently as he started to struggle desperately. He barely registered the taste of fresh meat on his tongue under the disgusting taste of Scarface’s dirty skin. Was his former alpha really trying to force feed him?!

The small hunter gagged as tears started to form in the corner of his eyes. He couldn't breath! And he feared that he would have to vomit any moment. Out of desperation he pushed frantically against the bigger one’s chest, who didn’t budge in the slightest.

Just when he finally swallowed the meat painfully and could feel the bile raising in his throat at the same time, did Scarface remove his hand from his mouth. The small hunter coughed roughly and panted for air. Before he could have fully recovered another hand with more meat was shoved down his throat again. The damn bastard was choking him! He couldn't breath! Tears rolled down Shark’s face, while he gagged violently. Unconsciously he bit down on the invading hand, whereupon the taste of fresh blood entered his mouth. But still the hand wasn’t removed.

At this rate he would black out. He had no air left in his lungs and the urge to throw up grew with every second. He couldn't take this anymore!

When the hand finally retreated Shark hastily rolled on his side, before he heaved violently. He could distantly hear his former alpha cackling while he emptied his stomach. Damn bastard was probably enjoying the show.

The small hunter panted harshly and whimpered loudly when nothing was left to throw up anymore.

He desperately hoped that it was over and Scarface would leave him alone.

No such luck.

Shark yelped as the bigger hunter grabbed his shoulder, turned him on his back again and carelessly shoved another piece of meat down his throat.

That procedure continued for a while until no meat was left. The small hunter still felt the urge to throw up again – even though he wasn’t allowed to this time. The alpha pressed hard down at his chest to keep him on his back, while he was also pressing a hand over Shark’s mouth, forcing it shut.

The small hunter choked as the bile rose again. He struggled wildly, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't throw the bigger hunter off of him, so that he had no other choice but to swallow the puke again and forcing it back down – even though that just made him feel sicker.

His whole body slumped in defeat as he closed his eyes with a pathetic whimper. He felt horrible and humiliated. Sniffling he hesitantly opened is eye again to look up into the alpha’s face. He wanted to see what was coming, even if he couldn’t stop it from happening. The bigger hunter looked satisfied, if his big grin was anything to go by. Damn him…

They stared at each other for some seconds longer, before Scarface’s face suddenly darkened. Shark flinched involuntary at the sight. He bit his bottom lip to prevent any sounds from escaping them – scared that any sound or movement from his part would set his former alpha off. He couldn't take much more today. He felt sick, exhausted and angry, but foremost he was scared.

Still worrying his bottom lip, he jumped slightly when the bigger hunter moved. With wide eyes he watched how the other one got off of him and crawled away from him.

Shark let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he was holding up til now. He slumped to the ground exhausted, as he turned on his side and rolled into a ball.

He nearly drifted off, when suddenly a loud high pitched shriek could be heard from somewhere in the building. He jumped and opened his eye again. What was that?

It was quiet for a short while, before another pained scream could be heard. That scream definitely sounded feminine. Shark could only guess that Scarface found the huntress who gave him the meat and was now punishing her for it.

The alpha didn’t allow any disobedience in his pack. And any such act was punished instantly. Shark knew that fact all too well to his own misfortune. You could only live a happy life in this pack if you followed the alpha without any protests and submitted to him. Two things that weren’t in Shark’s nature.

The small hunter hated it to submit to anyone – even though he knew most of the time when he had to back down if he valued his own life. He wasn’t stupid. He knew how the dynamics of a pack worked. He knew that a pack protected each other – safety in numbers. But still, he wasn’t the type who followed someone mindlessly. Why should he follow an order that seemed to be plain stupid and irrational or even an order that would only humiliate him or would result in some pain for him.

Sighing deeply he lied back down on the dirty ground and closed his eye again – trying to ignore the pained screams.

Even though he tried to convince himself that it was the huntress’s own fault – she should know the consequences of disobeying their alpha by now – he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty.


End file.
